Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes $284,000 Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired 6,421 shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) for approximately $284,000 during the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Pure Storage, with one upgrading to a price target of $66.00, while others have downgraded expectations, resulting in an average target price of $69.95.
• Pure Storage reported a 12.3% year-over-year revenue increase of $778.49 million, exceeding expectations, and recorded earnings per share of $0.29 for the quarter.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,421 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Pure Storage by 7.7% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,000 shares of the technology company's stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 11.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,339 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 8.4% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,327 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 4.0% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 121,895 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,396,000 after purchasing an additional 4,687 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 9.6% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Stock Up 0.0%

Pure Storage stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $57.44. 829,394 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,731,751. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.50. The company has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a PE ratio of 154.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 1.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PSTG. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $309,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive owned 75,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,923,592.25. The trade was a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total value of $11,988,539.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 500,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,160,000. This trade represents a 28.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 547,666 shares of company stock worth $31,887,830 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.60% 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.