Citigroup Inc. Purchases 14,659 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 11.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 14,659 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $7,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PSTG. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Pure Storage by 61.2% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Pure Storage by 242.9% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, City State Bank boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 175.0% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total transaction of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,862,874.48. This represents a 20.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PSTG shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Lake Street Capital cut their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $52.99 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $31.00 and a one year high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $17.36 billion, a PE ratio of 132.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99.

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