Farallon Capital Management LLC Sells 333,000 Shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

Farallon Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST - Free Report) by 97.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,650 shares of the company's stock after selling 333,000 shares during the quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC's holdings in Twist Bioscience were worth $355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWST. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,942 shares of the company's stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Twist Bioscience

In other news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 5,042 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.65, for a total transaction of $189,831.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 655,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,677,014.80. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 918 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $37,555.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 130,912 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,355,609.92. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,991 shares of company stock worth $742,654. 3.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TWST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.40.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 7.7%

Shares of NASDAQ TWST traded down $2.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.80. 838,985 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 967,015. The company's fifty day moving average is $38.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.56. Twist Bioscience Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.58 and a fifty-two week high of $60.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of -8.82 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a current ratio of 4.96.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($0.10). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 59.76% and a negative return on equity of 32.69%. The business had revenue of $92.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.00 million. On average, analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Twist Bioscience Profile

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.