Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST Shares Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management reduced its stake in Twist Bioscience by 16.5% in the first quarter, selling 36,655 shares and leaving it with 185,992 shares valued at about $8.1 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with nine Buy ratings and one Sell rating; recent targets ranged from $65 to $107, and the average price target is $79.30.
• Twist Bioscience reported revenue growth of 19.3% year over year in its latest quarter, but earnings missed expectations with EPS of -$0.71 versus the -$0.49 consensus.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Free Report) by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,992 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,655 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.30% of Twist Bioscience worth $8,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TWST. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company's stock worth $114,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,377 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 26.4% in the third quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,194,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,624,000 after purchasing an additional 249,850 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 350.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 76,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 59,500 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 662,317 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,009,000 after buying an additional 147,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosight Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the third quarter valued at about $2,110,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $89.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $60.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.30.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

TWST stock opened at $99.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of -74.62 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.97 and a 200-day moving average of $53.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.70. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a one year low of $23.30 and a one year high of $105.47.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 26.73% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company's revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.66) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Twist Bioscience

In other news, insider Dennis Cho sold 14,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $1,274,898.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 105,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,436,404.75. This represents a 11.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Melissa A. Starovasnik sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.83, for a total value of $30,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,559,476.26. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 67,580 shares of company stock valued at $5,169,482 over the last 90 days. 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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