Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $32.01, but opened at $38.28. Twist Bioscience shares last traded at $38.98, with a volume of 1,284,463 shares.

The company reported ($0.79) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.84) by $0.05. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 32.16% and a negative net margin of 78.44%. The company had revenue of $75.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.06) earnings per share. Twist Bioscience’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TWST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Twist Bioscience from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $30.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Chess sold 4,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $143,767.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 64,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,631.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert Chess sold 4,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $143,767.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 64,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,631.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $55,658.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 516,409 shares in the company, valued at $19,329,188.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,211 shares of company stock worth $449,573 over the last three months. 3.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 51.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 3,519.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 3,907 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 28.7 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.03 and a 200-day moving average of $30.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.42 and a beta of 1.64.

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.