Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 584,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 58,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $20,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 5,725.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,614,837 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,520,000 after buying an additional 1,587,116 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,285 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 1,025.3% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,269,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,079 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its position in Pure Storage by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $144,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Pure Storage by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,754,000 after purchasing an additional 943,850 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,389,852.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704 in the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $53.45 on Thursday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.57 and a fifty-two week high of $58.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 314.41, a PEG ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pure Storage Profile

Pure Storage, Inc engages in the provision of data storage and management technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. Its Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as always-on data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.