Barclays Cuts Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Price Target to $45.00

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $58.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim set a $50.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 6.1 %

Shares of TWST opened at $38.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.96, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Twist Bioscience has a 12 month low of $27.41 and a 12 month high of $60.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of -11.49 and a beta of 2.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $41.83 and its 200-day moving average is $44.66.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $88.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.75) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Twist Bioscience

In related news, Director Robert Chess sold 2,940 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.13, for a total transaction of $156,202.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 5,200 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.35, for a total value of $256,620.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 667,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,932,143.30. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock worth $1,077,383. 3.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000.

About Twist Bioscience

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.