Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Stock Falls 11.6% – Time to Sell?

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) shares traded down 11.6% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $154.81 and last traded at $153.3570. 923,313 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 1,738,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TWST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $144.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $107.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.67.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.92 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $152.78 and a 200-day moving average of $88.26.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.05). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The firm had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.55 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 8,057 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.88, for a total transaction of $1,521,806.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,996,794.88. This trade represents a 7.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 9,514 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.88, for a total value of $1,797,004.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 63,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,048,466.32. The trade was a 12.98% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 601,920 shares of company stock valued at $93,768,202 over the last quarter. 3.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter worth about $600,191,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the second quarter worth $223,722,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the second quarter valued at approximately $94,922,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $22,563,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience during the second quarter valued at about $19,722,000.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience Corporation is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures synthetic DNA and related products for life sciences research. The company uses a proprietary silicon-based platform to produce high-quality DNA at scale, supporting applications in synthetic biology, drug discovery and development, agriculture, and academic and industrial research.

Its offerings include synthetic genes, oligonucleotides, gene fragments, variant libraries, and antibody discovery products.