KBC Group NV Increases Position in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) by 71.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,942 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Twist Bioscience were worth $137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TWST. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Twist Bioscience in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 63.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 792 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the third quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 21.9% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 1,173.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 3,134 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on TWST. Wolfe Research began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partners increased their price target on Twist Bioscience from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.80.

Twist Bioscience Trading Up 0.1 %

TWST opened at $53.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -14.92 and a beta of 1.87. Twist Bioscience Co. has a 12-month low of $27.41 and a 12-month high of $60.90.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.09. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 66.69% and a negative return on equity of 32.27%. The company had revenue of $88.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.75) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Twist Bioscience news, CFO Adam Laponis sold 5,886 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 110,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,762,752.96. This represents a 5.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 7,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $382,464.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 581,584 shares in the company, valued at $27,916,032. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,851,681 in the last quarter. 3.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Twist Bioscience 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.