Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Sells 2,597 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Adam Laponis, Twist Bioscience's CFO, sold 2,597 shares on April 9 at an average price of $49.89 for about $129,564 to cover tax withholding on vested equity, trimming his stake by 2.02% to 125,694 shares (≈$6.27M).
• TWST shares climbed about 5.2% to $50.38; the company reported Q earnings of ($0.50) EPS (missed by $0.02) with revenue of $103.7M (+16.9% YoY), and analysts/institutions show mixed but generally positive interest (average price target $46.50, several large funds increasing positions).

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,597 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total transaction of $129,564.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 125,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,270,873.66. This trade represents a 2.02% 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 hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Adam Laponis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, February 12th, Adam Laponis sold 7,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00.
• On Tuesday, January 13th, Adam Laponis sold 3,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of TWST stock traded up $2.47 on Monday, hitting $50.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 981,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,282,704. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.36 and a beta of 2.20. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.30 and a fifty-two week high of $57.88. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $47.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 3.37.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.02). Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 19.56%.The business had revenue of $103.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.32 million. Twist Bioscience's revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 43.7% in 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 buying an additional 1,812,146 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.1% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company's stock worth $114,876,000 after buying an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 26.7% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,867 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 151.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company's stock worth $50,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company's stock worth $239,787,000 after acquiring an additional 832,687 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TWST shares. Evercore raised their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.50.

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.