Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Receives “Sell” Rating from BWS Financial

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by equities researchers at BWS Financial in a report released on Friday, September 18th, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the stock. BWS Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 75.39% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $144.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.00.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TWST traded down $1.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $182.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,706,153 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,580,533. The company has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.36 and a beta of 2.22. Twist Bioscience has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $186.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $125.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.46.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. Twist Bioscience’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Twist Bioscience

In related news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $226,297.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 110,276 shares in the company, valued at $10,402,335.08. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.62, for a total value of $50,519.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 73,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,031,085.62. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 521,777 shares of company stock valued at $78,416,543 in the last ninety days. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

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

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures synthetic DNA using a proprietary silicon-based platform. The company serves researchers and organizations in biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, agriculture, industrial chemicals and academic research.

Its products include synthetic genes, gene fragments, oligonucleotides and DNA libraries used in research, drug discovery, diagnostics development and other applications. Twist also provides next-generation sequencing tools and products, including target-enrichment and sample-preparation solutions, as well as synthetic biology services that support the design and testing of biological systems.

Twist was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.