Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. 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 changing hands.

Specifically, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 4,548 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.15, for a total value of $919,378.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 562,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,761,934. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Robert Werner sold 1,482 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.88, for a total value of $279,920.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 42,917 shares in the company, valued at $8,106,162.96. This trade represents a 3.34% 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. In other Twist Bioscience news, 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 transaction 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. This represents a 12.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $112.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore downgraded Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, September 21st. UBS Group began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $144.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.17.

Twist Bioscience Trading Down 2.3%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.95. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.53 billion, a PE ratio of -68.49 and a beta of 2.19.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The company had revenue of $118.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.55 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Twist Bioscience’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWST. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 562.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 958 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,000.

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.