Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Sells 8,057 Shares of Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Adam Laponis sold 8,057 shares of the company’s 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 $1,521,806.16. 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Adam Laponis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 9th, Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction of $226,297.67.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

TWST stock traded up $16.33 during trading on Monday, reaching $205.00. 3,203,579 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,622,926. The company has a market capitalization of $12.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -92.34 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $136.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.42. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a twelve month low of $23.30 and a twelve month high of $207.90.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the second quarter valued at $277,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,333,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter worth about $99,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 54.9% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter valued at about $283,000.

Twist Bioscience News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Twist Bioscience this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Twist Bioscience reported approximately 23% year-over-year revenue growth in its latest quarter, reinforcing the company’s expansion narrative and helping support bullish sentiment. Twist Bioscience stock reports 23 percent revenue growth
• Positive Sentiment: Leerink raised its price target for TWST from $120 to $160, signaling improved analyst expectations. Although the revised target remains below the recent share price, the increase may have added to buying momentum. Leerink raises target for Twist Bioscience stock
• Positive Sentiment: The stock reached a new 52-week high, reflecting strong momentum and investor demand. TWST has benefited from enthusiasm around biotechnology and synthetic-DNA markets, as well as attention from actively managed biotech funds. Twist Bioscience reaches new 52-week high
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Emily Leproust, CFO Adam Laponis, CAO Robert Werner, SVP Paula Green and insider Dennis Cho sold shares primarily to cover tax withholding tied to vested equity awards. The transactions totaled roughly $14.3 million, but the CEO’s sales were conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing their usefulness as a signal of deteriorating business prospects. Twist Bioscience insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profitability remain risks: the company continues to report net losses, and its latest quarterly earnings per share missed estimates despite beating revenue expectations. The sharp rally also leaves the stock well above Leerink’s revised target, increasing the potential for volatility or profit-taking.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $107.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore lowered shares of Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, July 6th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.27.

About Twist Bioscience

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.