Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 8,426 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. by 7.6%, now owning 102,408 shares valued at approximately $4.53 million.
• Insiders have sold a total of 547,666 shares of Pure Storage stock in the last quarter, valued at about $31.89 million.
• Research firms have recently upgraded their price targets for Pure Storage, with Evercore ISI setting a target of $70, contributing to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 102,408 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,426 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $4,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in Pure Storage by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 9,201 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 1,740 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 96,556 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,931,000 after purchasing an additional 18,306 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 285.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 150,809 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,264,000 after purchasing an additional 111,655 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 9,635 shares of the technology company's stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth approximately $231,000. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PSTG. Evercore ISI increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $57.84. 1,572,054 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,086,319. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.35, a PEG ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company's 50-day moving average price is $55.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.50. 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 issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total value of $1,253,225.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 261,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,498,234.25. The trade was a 7.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total transaction of $11,988,539.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 500,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,160,000. The trade was a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 547,666 shares of company stock valued at $31,887,830. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.