Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Trading Up 6.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) were up 6.8% on Tuesday after Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $86.94 and last traded at $86.26. Approximately 477,913 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 1,414,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.79.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. 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. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 8,061 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total value of $526,302.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 858,887 shares in the company, valued at $56,076,732.23. This represents a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Melissa A. Starovasnik sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 25,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,311,822. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 33,170 shares of company stock worth $1,948,964 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 89.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 958 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Strategic Advocates LLC boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 562.7% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.05 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.93.

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

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.