Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Trading Down 5.7% After Insider Selling

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST)’s share price was down 5.7% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $45.63 and last traded at $45.58. Approximately 439,027 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,378,187 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.33.

Specifically, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 2,423 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total value of $112,499.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 860,629 shares in the company, valued at $39,959,004.47. This trade represents a 0.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 935 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total transaction of $43,412.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 124,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,775,938.43. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TWST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.88.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.39 and a beta of 2.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.80. The company has a quick ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $103.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.32 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.56% and a negative return on equity of 27.16%. The company’s revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 25,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 70.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation is a synthetic biology company specializing in the development and commercialization of DNA-based products and solutions. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company has pioneered a proprietary silicon-based DNA synthesis platform designed for high-throughput production of synthetic genes and oligonucleotides. Twist leverages semiconductor manufacturing techniques to enable precise, scalable synthesis of DNA at speeds and volumes unattainable with traditional methods.

At the core of Twist’s offering is its proprietary platform that automates the synthesis of custom DNA fragments, gene libraries, and long oligonucleotides.