Raiffeisen Bank International AG Increases Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. by 21%, owning approximately 656,935 shares valued at around $30.2 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors have modified their holdings in Pure Storage, with notable increases including a 5,233.3% boost by FNY Investment Advisers LLC during the first quarter.
• Analyst price targets for Pure Storage vary, with recommendations ranging from $57 by Barclays to $75 by Needham & Company, indicating a general consensus of a "Moderate Buy" rating.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 21.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 656,935 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 113,956 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG owned about 0.20% of Pure Storage worth $30,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Pure Storage by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 5,233.3% during the 1st quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 800 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 910 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 6,959 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.17, for a total value of $390,887.03. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,706 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,886.02. The trade was a 26.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive owned 75,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,923,592.25. This represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 547,666 shares of company stock valued at $31,887,830 in the last quarter. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of 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. Evercore ISI raised 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 research report on Saturday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE:PSTG opened at $54.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.51 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.62.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%. Pure Storage's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.