Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday. The stock had previously closed at $166.97, but opened at $158.26. Twist Bioscience shares last traded at $153.7760, with a volume of 1,016,013 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore downgraded shares of Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, July 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $107.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $112.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.18.

Twist Bioscience Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $140.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.05 billion, a PE ratio of -72.48 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Twist Bioscience

In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 356,546 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.99, for a total value of $56,330,702.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 620,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $98,046,856.11. This trade represents a 36.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 10,088 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.88, for a total transaction of $1,905,421.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 106,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,140,652.16. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 597,309 shares of company stock worth $92,690,311. 3.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter valued at $600,191,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter worth $223,722,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 2nd quarter worth about $94,922,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth about $22,563,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,722,000.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures synthetic DNA using a silicon-based production platform. Its technology is designed to enable the precise, high-throughput synthesis of DNA at smaller scale and with potentially lower material consumption than traditional methods.

The company provides synthetic DNA products and services for applications in drug discovery and development, biotechnology research, agriculture, industrial chemicals and other life sciences markets.