Brokerages Set Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) Target Price at $52.80

Shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.80.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TWST. Guggenheim set a $50.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.68, for a total transaction of $71,939.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 660,966 shares in the company, valued at $27,549,062.88. This represents a 0.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Patrick John Finn sold 2,422 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $121,511.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 272,044 shares in the company, valued at $13,648,447.48. The trade was a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock worth $1,077,383. 3.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TWST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,807,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,860,000 after buying an additional 189,791 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 5,595,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,040,000 after buying an additional 237,772 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,505,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,972,000 after purchasing an additional 532,040 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,374,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,895,000 after purchasing an additional 6,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Light Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Twist Bioscience during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,984,000.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of TWST stock opened at $36.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.96, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of -10.89 and a beta of 2.34. Twist Bioscience has a 12 month low of $27.96 and a 12 month high of $60.90.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $88.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.96 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 59.76% and a negative return on equity of 32.69%. Twist Bioscience’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.75) EPS. Analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal 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.