Swiss National Bank Sells 5,300 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. by 0.6%, selling 5,300 shares, and now owns 874,100 shares valued at approximately $38.7 million.
• Insider selling included significant transactions where John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares for nearly $12 million, reducing his ownership by 28.44% and Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares for around $310,000.
• Analysts currently have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" on Pure Storage, with price targets ranging from $62.00 to $75.00 following positive quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations.

Swiss National Bank decreased its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 874,100 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.27% of Pure Storage worth $38,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 55.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 5,233.3% during the first quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 800 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 35.6% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 910 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 500,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,160,000. The trade was a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 446,794 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,913 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set 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, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.21.

Pure Storage Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE PSTG opened at $57.35 on Tuesday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.51 and a 1-year high of $73.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.88 and a 200-day moving average of $54.01. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.01, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released 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. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share 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.

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