Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 83,287 Shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST - Free Report) by 210.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,911 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 83,287 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Twist Bioscience worth $6,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 171,823 shares of the company's stock worth $5,895,000 after acquiring an additional 44,349 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 213,467 shares of the company's stock worth $7,868,000 after purchasing an additional 110,036 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,583,443 shares of the company's stock worth $131,835,000 after purchasing an additional 99,511 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,144,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $300,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TWST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Twist Bioscience from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.22.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 9.3 %

TWST traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.72. 1,023,657 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,014,267. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.81 and a beta of 1.76. Twist Bioscience Co. has a one year low of $14.42 and a one year high of $60.90.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported ($1.47) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.71). Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 32.17% and a negative net margin of 74.63%. The company had revenue of $81.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.01) EPS. Twist Bioscience's quarterly revenue was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $85,578.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 505,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,993,850.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $85,578.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,993,850.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,114 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $53,472.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 504,732 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,227,136. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,483 shares of company stock worth $781,448. Corporate insiders own 3.92% of the company's stock.

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.