Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Down 4.4% – Here’s Why

Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)’s share price dropped 4.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $37.34 and last traded at $36.76. Approximately 76,252 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 979,745 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on TWST shares. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim set a $50.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.80.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.85 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a quick ratio of 4.62, a current ratio of 4.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.52.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.09. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 32.69% and a negative net margin of 59.76%. The business had revenue of $88.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.75) EPS. Twist Bioscience’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Twist Bioscience news, Director Robert Chess sold 2,940 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.13, for a total value of $156,202.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,531.49. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 1,259 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.35, for a total transaction of $62,131.65. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 132,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,514,890.90. This trade represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,796 shares of company stock valued at $1,077,383. Company insiders own 3.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TWST. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 6,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 214.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 153,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,913,000 after purchasing an additional 104,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,367,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,807,000 after purchasing an additional 26,145 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 3.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 252,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,756,000 after buying an additional 8,308 shares during the last quarter.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of synthetic DNA-based products. The company offers synthetic genes and gene fragments used in product development for therapeutics, diagnostics, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, data storage, and various applications within academic research by biotech, pharma, industrial chemical, and agricultural companies, as well as academic labs; Oligo pools used in targeted NGS, CRISPR gene editing, mutagenesis experiments, DNA origami, DNA computing, data storage in DNA, and other applications; and immunoglobulin G proteins for customers focused on the pursuit of drug discovery and development.