Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lessened its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,280 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,422 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $2,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,163,000 after buying an additional 747,034 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Pure Storage by 56.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Pure Storage by 0.7% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,357,962 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,405,000 after purchasing an additional 15,747 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Pure Storage by 12.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,234,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,470,000 after purchasing an additional 249,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Pure Storage by 22.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,303,863 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,728,000 after purchasing an additional 235,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total value of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 94,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. This represents a 8.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total transaction of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This represents a 16.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 354,542 shares of company stock valued at $18,599,030. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

PSTG stock opened at $52.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.23, a PEG ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.83. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.00 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share 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.