Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 125,185 Shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership cut its holdings in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,893,681 shares of the company’s stock after selling 125,185 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 9.88% of Twist Bioscience worth $273,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 78,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,625,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 72.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 5,886 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total value of $254,628.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,096 shares in the company, valued at $4,762,752.96. This trade represents a 5.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 5,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.35, for a total value of $256,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 667,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,932,143.30. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,799 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,944 in the last quarter. 3.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TWST opened at $41.88 on Thursday. Twist Bioscience Co. has a twelve month low of $27.41 and a twelve month high of $60.90. 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 company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of -12.39 and a beta of 2.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.38 and its 200 day moving average is $45.34.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $88.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.75) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TWST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.40.

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.