J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Reduces Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. by 31.6%, now holding 34,701 shares valued at $1,536,000.
• After recently selling shares, insider executives have decreased their positions, with a notable transaction involving a sale of 22,601 shares for over $1.25 million.
• Pure Storage's stock has seen recent downgrades from analysts, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG cut its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 31.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,701 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 16,014 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,207,162 shares of the technology company's stock worth $442,736,000 after purchasing an additional 401,035 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,921,392 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $363,751,000 after acquiring an additional 174,449 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,162,081 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $255,677,000 after acquiring an additional 657,175 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,118,774 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $191,586,000 after acquiring an additional 91,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,888,060 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $177,414,000 after acquiring an additional 443,728 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PSTG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $66.00 price objective (up from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total transaction of $1,253,225.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 261,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,498,234.25. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were 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. 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.

Pure Storage Stock Up 2.6%

PSTG traded up $1.43 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,807,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,139,162. The firm has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 155.15, a P/E/G 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. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $55.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.48.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million for 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 company's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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.