Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Trading Up 9.4% – Should You Buy?

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST)’s share price traded up 9.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $92.45 and last traded at $93.0260. Approximately 740,041 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 1,462,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, June 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target on Twist Bioscience from $68.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group set a $89.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.60.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.35 and a beta of 2.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 26.73% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.66) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Twist Bioscience

In related news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $240,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 118,694 shares in the company, valued at $7,121,640. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Melissa A. Starovasnik sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total value of $51,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,311,822. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,170 shares of company stock worth $1,948,964. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,874,000 after buying an additional 1,812,146 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after buying an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,403,000 after buying an additional 1,349,867 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 151.5% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,787,000 after acquiring an additional 832,687 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.