Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $90.06 and last traded at $88.8510, with a volume of 5311 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $87.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, June 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on Twist Bioscience from $68.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.60.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.35 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.09 and a 200 day moving average of $49.46. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $110.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 26.73% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.66) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 8,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total value of $526,302.69. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 858,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,076,732.23. This trade represents a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Melissa A. Starovasnik sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.83, for a total transaction of $30,915.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,559,476.26. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,170 shares of company stock valued at $1,948,964. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWST. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,787,000 after purchasing an additional 832,687 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349,867 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,874,000 after buying an additional 1,812,146 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,590,000 after buying an additional 1,295,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,074,000 after acquiring an additional 538,755 shares in the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

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.