Swiss National Bank Buys 3,100 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 917,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $46,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,976,000 after buying an additional 4,293 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 3.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,179 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 2.4% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,365 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 230.5% in the third quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 119,034 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,005,000 after purchasing an additional 83,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Pure Storage by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 39,277 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.32, for a total transaction of $5,732,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 300,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,196,000. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 20,647 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total value of $1,063,320.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 75,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,913,588. This represents a 21.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

NYSE PSTG opened at $49.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.43, a PEG ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.94. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.00 and a 52-week high of $70.41.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. Analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pure Storage Company 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.