Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) Raised to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Ginkgo Bioworks from "sell" to "hold", but the stock still carries a MarketBeat consensus of "Reduce" with an average target price of $8.50 and mixed analyst views.
• Ginkgo reported a quarterly EPS of ($1.42) that beat estimates but revenue missed ($33.4M vs. $37.57M), leaving the company with a deeply negative net margin (~183.8%) and analysts expecting roughly -10.02 EPS for the year; market cap is about $400M and the shares trade near $6.46.
• Significant insider selling has occurred—CEO Jason R. Kelly and others sold large blocks (roughly ~206,782 shares disclosed in April) reportedly to cover tax withholding on vested awards—while short interest fell ~23% to ~6.15M shares and institutional ownership remains high (~78.6%).

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. BTIG Research dropped their target price on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks from $9.00 to $5.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $8.50.

Ginkgo Bioworks Price Performance

DNA opened at $6.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $399.76 million, a P/E ratio of -1.14 and a beta of 1.56. Ginkgo Bioworks has a 1-year low of $5.37 and a 1-year high of $17.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.52.

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($1.42) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.80) by $0.38. Ginkgo Bioworks had a negative net margin of 183.81% and a negative return on equity of 52.82%. The firm had revenue of $33.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.57 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Ginkgo Bioworks will post -10.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ginkgo Bioworks

In other Ginkgo Bioworks news, insider Jason R. Kelly sold 109,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total transaction of $702,508.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 316,483 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,491.20. This trade represents a 25.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Reshma P. Shetty sold 13,155 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.93, for a total transaction of $91,164.15. Following the transaction, the insider owned 351,684 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,437,170.12. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 261,004 shares of company stock worth $1,738,478 over the last 90 days. 9.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DNA. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 113.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,427,600 shares of the company's stock worth $8,137,000 after buying an additional 757,535 shares during the last quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,503,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ginkgo Bioworks by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,292,071 shares of the company's stock worth $10,737,000 after purchasing an additional 358,231 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Ginkgo Bioworks by 28,457.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 228,744 shares of the company's stock worth $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 227,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 489,418 shares of the company's stock worth $4,067,000 after buying an additional 226,861 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company's stock.

Key Ginkgo Bioworks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ginkgo Bioworks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: March short interest fell sharply — short interest totaled 6,146,646 shares as of March 31, down 23.2% from 8,004,118 on March 15; roughly 11.0% of the float is sold short and the days-to-cover is ~5.2. Reduced short exposure can remove a headwind and support the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by the CEO: Jason R. Kelly sold 97,015 shares on April 8 (avg $6.93) and 109,767 shares on April 9 (avg $6.40), totaling ~206,782 shares (~$1.37M) and materially reducing his holdings. The filings say the sales were to cover tax withholding on vested equity. Jason R. Kelly Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Other insiders/major holders also sold small blocks (Reshma P. Shetty and Barry Canton each sold ~13k shares on April 8–9 at similar prices). These rounds of sales were likewise disclosed as tax-withholding-related. Reshma's filing: Reshma P. Shetty Form 4; Barry Canton's filing: Barry Canton Form 4

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc is a synthetic biology company that designs custom microbes for customers across a range of industries. Utilizing a proprietary organism foundry platform, the company engineers cells to produce high-value chemicals, enzymes, and other biological materials. By integrating automation, data analytics and machine learning, Ginkgo Bioworks seeks to accelerate the development of biologically derived solutions at industrial scale.

The company's services span the entire development cycle, from genetic design and strain optimization to fermentation and downstream processing.

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