Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Sets New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Twist Bioscience shares hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $59.00 and last at $57.41 on heavy volume (~2.96M shares), up from a $50.38 close.
• Analysts are mixed but consensus is a Moderate Buy (seven Buy, two Sell) with an average price target of $47.13, which is notably below the current share price.
• The company reported 16.9% year-over-year revenue growth but remains unprofitable (EPS -$0.50, negative net margin and ROE); meanwhile major institutional investors (ARK, Artisan, William Blair, etc.) have increased stakes even as insiders have sold shares recently.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $59.00 and last traded at $57.41, with a volume of 2957183 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.13.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.85 and a beta of 2.20. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.78.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $103.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.32 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.56% and a negative return on equity of 27.16%. The company's revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Twist Bioscience news, CAO Robert F. Werner sold 7,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.65, for a total value of $319,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 58,738 shares in the company, valued at $2,681,389.70. This trade represents a 10.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 5,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.93, for a total transaction of $249,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 138,581 shares in the company, valued at $6,919,349.33. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 46,049 shares of company stock worth $2,198,717 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 832,687 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,349,867 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,812,146 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,295,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring 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.

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