Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily Leproust Sells 4,548 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• CEO Emily Leproust sold 4,548 Twist Bioscience shares for approximately $919,378 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, reducing her ownership by 0.8% to 562,760 shares.
• Twist Bioscience shares fell 6.8% to $155.65 during Wednesday trading, while the company reported quarterly revenue of $118.38 million but missed analysts’ EPS expectations with a loss of $0.56 per share.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $126.18, although ratings range from “sell” to “overweight” and target prices vary substantially.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) CEO Emily Leproust sold 4,548 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.15, for a total value of $919,378.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 562,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $113,761,934. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Twist Bioscience Trading Down 6.8%

Shares of TWST traded down $11.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $155.65. The stock had a trading volume of 5,641,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,679,962. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 12-month low of $23.30 and a 12-month high of $219.71. The firm has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.11 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $140.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.39.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $118.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. Twist Bioscience's revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter worth $33,000. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 562.7% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 89.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 958 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the first quarter valued at $54,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TWST. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $144.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Evercore downgraded Twist Bioscience from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $102.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, July 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.18.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation NASDAQ: TWST is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures synthetic DNA using a silicon-based production platform. Its technology is designed to enable the precise, high-throughput synthesis of DNA at smaller scale and with potentially lower material consumption than traditional methods.

The company provides synthetic DNA products and services for applications in drug discovery and development, biotechnology research, agriculture, industrial chemicals and other life sciences markets.

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.