Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Down 12.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) shares were down 12.1% on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $45.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Twist Bioscience traded as low as $35.37 and last traded at $35.41. Approximately 162,171 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 969,972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.27.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on TWST. Guggenheim set a $50.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, March 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Twist Bioscience

In other Twist Bioscience news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,726 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.68, for a total value of $71,939.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 660,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,549,062.88. This represents a 0.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Chess sold 2,940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.13, for a total transaction of $156,202.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,173 shares in the company, valued at $965,531.49. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock valued at $1,077,383 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 547.2% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 686 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000.

Twist Bioscience Trading Down 9.0 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.71. The company has a quick ratio of 4.62, a current ratio of 4.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 2.34.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.09. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 59.76% and a negative return on equity of 32.69%. The firm had revenue of $88.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.96 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.75) EPS. Twist Bioscience’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

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.