Ground Swell Capital LLC Takes $242,000 Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage, Inc., purchasing 5,470 shares valued at approximately $242,000.
• Several other hedge funds also increased their holdings in Pure Storage during the first quarter, with institutional investors now owning 83.42% of the stock.
• Analysts have set new target prices for Pure Storage, with an average target now at $70.21, reflecting a consensus of "Moderate Buy" ratings.

Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,470 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 7.7% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 4,687 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 616 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on PSTG shares. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Pure Storage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.21.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 21,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,000.90. This represents a 33.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 446,794 shares of company stock worth $26,641,913 in the last ninety days. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $59.57 on Thursday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.51 and a twelve month high of $73.67. The firm has a market cap of $19.47 billion, a PE ratio of 161.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.07 and a 200-day moving average of $54.09.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.03 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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