Dennis Cho Sells 14,205 Shares of Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) insider Dennis Cho sold 14,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $1,274,898.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 105,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,436,404.75. The trade was a 11.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Dennis Cho also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 22nd, Dennis Cho sold 346 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total transaction of $30,212.72.
• On Monday, June 8th, Dennis Cho sold 402 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $28,075.68.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of Twist Bioscience stock opened at $99.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of -75.07 and a beta of 2.23. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 52-week low of $23.30 and a 52-week high of $104.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its quarterly 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 for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.66) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter worth $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 position in Twist Bioscience by 562.7% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on TWST shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, June 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.60.

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.