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Twist Bioscience slides as insider sale filings and partnership skepticism pressure sentiment

Investivoq PriceTracker

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) is down 6.8% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The most likely driver appears to be a mix of insider-sale headlines and a cooling sentiment shift after a recent analyst note questioned how much strategic value Twist may ultimately get from its Lilly TuneLab collaboration. There does not appear to be a fresh earnings miss or major operational setback behind the move, so this looks more like a valuation and sentiment reset than a change in the company’s latest reported fundamentals.

Details:

  • Twist’s latest quarterly update in early August showed record third-quarter revenue of $118.4 million, gross margin above 52%, and raised full-year revenue guidance, which suggests the selloff was not triggered by a newly disclosed deterioration in operating results.
  • The company also completed an upsized $300 million common-stock offering in August, a reminder that dilution remains part of the story even as growth improves.
  • A Form 4 filed on October 5 showed CEO Emily Leproust sold 655 shares on October 1 under a prearranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and 45,736 shares on October 2 in a sell-to-cover transaction tied to tax withholding on vested stock awards.
  • This could be because investors are reassessing a stock that had already rallied sharply, making insider-sale activity and a more skeptical Wall Street read on recent partnership news enough to trigger profit-taking.

    • Sources:

    Twist Bioscience Investor Relations, SEC, TipRanks

    Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

    $TWST Insider Trading Activity

    TWST Insider Trades

    $TWST insiders have traded $TWST stock on the open market 105 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 105 have been sales.

    Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $TWST stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

    • EMILY M. LEPROUST (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 44 sales selling 666,772 shares for an estimated $92,340,600.
    • PATRICK JOHN FINN (President and COO) has made 0 purchases and 14 sales selling 122,566 shares for an estimated $15,618,877.
    • DENNIS CHO (See Remarks) has made 0 purchases and 12 sales selling 59,909 shares for an estimated $6,869,436.
    • PAULA GREEN (SVP of Human Resources) has made 0 purchases and 11 sales selling 43,609 shares for an estimated $4,711,060.
    • ADAM LAPONIS (Chief Financial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 8 sales selling 28,037 shares for an estimated $2,943,497.
    • ROBERT CHESS sold 18,417 shares for an estimated $2,042,261
    • ROBERT F. WERNER (Chief Accounting Officer) has made 0 purchases and 10 sales selling 6,421 shares for an estimated $726,660.
    • JAN JOHANNESSEN sold 12,000 shares for an estimated $673,440
    • KATRYN BLAKE sold 2,240 shares for an estimated $275,251
    • MELISSA A. STAROVASNIK has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 3,500 shares for an estimated $231,435.

    To track insider transactions, check out Investivoq's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Investivoq API insider transaction endpoint.

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    $TWST Hedge Fund Activity

    We have seen 172 institutional investors add shares of $TWST stock to their portfolio, and 132 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

    Here are some of the largest recent moves:

    • WILLIAM BLAIR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC removed 3,779,835 shares (-63.5%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $388,869,424
    • PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/ added 3,564,347 shares (+5069.8%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $366,700,019
    • EDGEPOINT INVESTMENT GROUP INC. removed 2,856,356 shares (-53.1%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $293,861,905
    • FMR LLC added 2,813,099 shares (+148.8%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $289,411,625
    • ARK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC removed 1,792,930 shares (-28.3%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $184,456,638
    • ARTISAN PARTNERS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP removed 1,565,760 shares (-24.6%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $161,085,388
    • D. E. SHAW & CO., INC. added 1,158,024 shares (+4198.6%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $119,137,509

    To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Investivoq's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Investivoq API 13F endpoint.

    $TWST Price Targets

    Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $TWST recently. We have seen 8 analysts offer price targets for $TWST in the last 6 months, with a median target of $89.5.

    Here are some recent targets:

    • Vijay Kumar from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $102.0 on 07/06/2026
    • Subbu Nambi from Guggenheim set a target price of $107.0 on 06/29/2026
    • Luke Sergott from Barclays set a target price of $95.0 on 06/24/2026
    • Brendan Smith from TD Cowen set a target price of $89.0 on 06/15/2026
    • Kyle Mikson from Canaccord Genuity set a target price of $90.0 on 06/15/2026
    • David Westenberg from Piper Sandler set a target price of $85.0 on 06/11/2026
    • Catherine Ramsey from Baird set a target price of $65.0 on 05/05/2026

    This article is not financial advice. See Investivoq's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.