Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Gap Down - What's Next?

Key Points

• Twist Bioscience's stock price dropped significantly, opening at $30.07 after a previous close of $33.68 and last trading at $28.50, indicating a concerning downward trend.
• Analysts have adjusted their price targets downwards, with Barclays lowering its target from $58.00 to $45.00 and JPMorgan cutting their target from $40.00 to $33.00, reflecting a generally cautious outlook on the company's stock.
• The company reported a negative EPS of ($0.47) for the last quarter, which was better than analyst estimates, but it also noted a negative return on equity of 33.48%, highlighting ongoing financial challenges.

Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $33.68, but opened at $30.07. Twist Bioscience shares last traded at $28.50, with a volume of 736,045 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on TWST. Barclays reduced their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $46.00 target price on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.40.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 3.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.55 and a 200-day moving average of $38.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.38 and a beta of 2.36.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $96.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $95.52 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 29.03% and a negative net margin of 23.51%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Patrick John Finn sold 1,877 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $55,840.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 240,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,163,294.25. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 2,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $83,359.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 649,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,326,492.50. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,109 shares of company stock worth $425,962 over the last 90 days. 3.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 186.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,442,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,883,000 after buying an additional 1,588,587 shares during the last quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 4th quarter valued at $56,984,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth $43,705,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 15,927.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 846,107 shares of the company's stock worth $39,319,000 after purchasing an additional 840,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter worth $31,960,000.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of synthetic DNA-based products. The company offers synthetic genes and gene fragments used in product development for therapeutics, diagnostics, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, data storage, and various applications within academic research by biotech, pharma, industrial chemical, and agricultural companies, as well as academic labs; Oligo pools used in targeted NGS, CRISPR gene editing, mutagenesis experiments, DNA origami, DNA computing, data storage in DNA, and other applications; and immunoglobulin G proteins for customers focused on the pursuit of drug discovery and development.