Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Twist Bioscience has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with seven buy ratings and one sell rating among eight covering brokerages. The average 1-year price target is $58, while some firms have recently raised targets as high as $80.
• The company’s latest earnings report showed mixed results: revenue came in above expectations at $110.72 million, but EPS missed estimates at -$0.71. Revenue still grew 19.3% year over year, though profitability remained negative.
• There has also been notable insider selling and continued institutional activity, including sales by a director and the CFO, while several large investors modestly increased their stakes. Shares recently traded near $60.57, close to the stock’s 52-week high of $66.06.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on TWST shares. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, March 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Twist Bioscience

In other news, Director Melissa A. Starovasnik sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.00, for a total transaction of $51,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,311,822. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Adam Laponis sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $240,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 118,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,121,640. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,551 shares of company stock worth $2,566,533. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 25,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,738 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,187 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TWST opened at $60.57 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $52.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.54 and a beta of 2.22. Twist Bioscience has a 52 week low of $23.30 and a 52 week high of $66.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $110.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 26.73%. Twist Bioscience's quarterly revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.66) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Twist Bioscience will post -1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

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.

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