Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Sells 1,610 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Twist Bioscience CEO Emily Leproust sold 1,610 shares on April 21 at an average price of $65.01 for $104,666, executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reducing her stake by 0.19% to 858,887 shares.
• Shares dropped 6.9% to $58.85 on Thursday with elevated volume (1.74M vs. average 1.33M); the stock has a 52-week range of $23.30–$66.06 and a market cap around $3.61 billion.
• Twist missed quarterly EPS estimates (‑$0.50 vs. ‑$0.48) despite 16.9% revenue growth and negative margins/ROE; analysts hold a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $47.13 while several brokers raised targets to $52–$55.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) CEO Emily Leproust sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $104,666.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 858,887 shares in the company, valued at $55,836,243.87. This represents a 0.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Twist Bioscience Trading Down 6.9%

Shares of TWST traded down $4.35 on Thursday, hitting $58.85. 1,739,889 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,325,012. The company has a quick ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.98 and a beta of 2.20. The stock's 50 day moving average is $49.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.83. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $66.06.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TWST. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $239,787,000 after purchasing an additional 832,687 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,867 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812,146 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,818 shares of the company's stock valued at $115,074,000 after purchasing an additional 538,755 shares in the last quarter.

About Twist Bioscience

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.