Bayforest Capital Ltd Purchases Shares of 5,821 Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired 5,821 shares of Pure Storage, Inc. for approximately $258,000, indicating growing interest among institutional investors in the technology sector.
• Standard financial ratings for Pure Storage include a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a price target of $69.95, reflecting a positive outlook despite varied ratings from different analysts.
• Insider selling activity has been noted, with significant transactions from executives, including John Colgrove, who sold 198,749 shares valued at nearly $12 million, constituting a sizeable decrease in their ownership stake.

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,821 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 9,201 shares of the technology company's stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 1,740 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 96,556 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,931,000 after buying an additional 18,306 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,696 shares of the technology company's stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 285.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 150,809 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,264,000 after buying an additional 111,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $413,982,000 after buying an additional 1,366,458 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Trading Down 8.4%

Shares of PSTG traded down $4.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $54.54. 2,976,585 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,188,984. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.54. The company has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.51 and a 1 year high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $619,330.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,000.90. The trade was a 33.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $309,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 75,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,923,592.25. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 547,666 shares of company stock valued at $31,887,830 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

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.