Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 44.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,235 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% in the third 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 period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew 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 valued at $45,235,000 after buying an additional 1,157,079 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 33.8% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE PSTG opened at $59.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a PE ratio of 352.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 1.15. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.20 and a 1-year high of $60.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.06 and a 200-day moving average of $44.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PSTG shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Pure Storage in a report on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total value of $807,100.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 380,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

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.