Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 14,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $657,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TWST. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,942 shares of the company's stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TWST. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target 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 lowered their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.40.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TWST traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.26. 781,842 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 976,364. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.36 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.71 and a 200 day moving average of $42.85. The company has a quick ratio of 4.62, a current ratio of 4.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Twist Bioscience Co. has a 1-year low of $27.12 and a 1-year high of $60.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Twist Bioscience news, SVP Paula Green sold 918 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total transaction of $37,555.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 130,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,355,609.92. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Adam Laponis sold 936 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $27,846.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 106,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,154,035.50. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,011 shares of company stock worth $951,499 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.01% of the company's stock.

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.