Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) by 21.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,496,099 shares of the company’s stock after selling 406,730 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Twist Bioscience were worth $71,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.1% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,876,000 after buying an additional 1,696,377 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,194,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,624,000 after buying an additional 249,850 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 350.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 76,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,426,000 after acquiring an additional 59,500 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 662,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,009,000 after acquiring an additional 147,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 108.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 222,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,302,000 after acquiring an additional 115,880 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 3.2%

NASDAQ TWST traded down $3.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $90.64. 1,353,017 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,049,859. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.30 and a 1-year high of $105.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.15 and a beta of 2.11.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $110.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 26.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.66) earnings per share. As a group, 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, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 18,880 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,793,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 824,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,283,705. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 14,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $1,274,898.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 105,141 shares in the company, valued at $9,436,404.75. This represents a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,983 shares of company stock valued at $5,039,917. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $68.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore downgraded shares of Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.30.

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.