Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Grows Holdings in Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 108.5% in Q4 to 222,647 shares, now owning about 0.36% of the company worth roughly $7.3 million.
• Several analysts have raised price targets (Barclays to $55, Evercore to $52, Guggenheim to $55), and the stock carries a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $47.13.
• The shares trade around $60.40 with a $3.7 billion market cap; Twist is still unprofitable (negative EPS and a -19.6% net margin) despite 16.9% YoY revenue growth, and insiders have sold about 63,220 shares (~$3.27M) over the past 90 days, including a CEO sale under a 10b5-1 plan.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Free Report) by 108.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,647 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 115,880 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.36% of Twist Bioscience worth $7,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,971 shares of the company's stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TWST shares. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Guggenheim upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.13.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 3.3%

NASDAQ TWST opened at $60.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.78. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.19 and a beta of 2.22. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a one year low of $23.30 and a one year high of $66.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.99.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.02). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.56% and a negative return on equity of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $103.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.32 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Twist Bioscience 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 858,887 shares in the company, valued at $56,076,732.23. This trade represents a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 935 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.43, for a total value of $43,412.05. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 124,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,775,938.43. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 63,220 shares of company stock valued at $3,265,601. Insiders own 3.08% of the company's stock.

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.

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