Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 56,369 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. by 88.1%, now holding just 7,597 shares after selling 56,369 shares, valued at approximately $336,000.
• In recent transactions, company insiders sold significant amounts of stock, with a total of 547,666 shares sold over the last 90 days, representing a combined value of nearly $31.9 million.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Pure Storage, with one firm downgrading the stock to a "hold" rating while others maintain "buy" ratings, reflecting a consensus average price target of $69.95.

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 88.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,597 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 56,369 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors 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% in the 4th 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 last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 18,306 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 285.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 150,809 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $9,264,000 after buying an additional 111,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $413,982,000 after buying an additional 1,366,458 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pure Storage Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded up $1.43 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,729,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,740,048. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.51 and a 12-month high of $73.67. The stock has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 155.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.07. The business's 50-day moving average is $55.57 and its 200 day moving average is $54.48.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,923,592.25. This 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total value of $11,988,539.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 500,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,160,000. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 547,666 shares of company stock worth $31,887,830 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PSTG. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage 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 stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

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.