Banque Pictet & Cie SA Grows Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 159,796 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,028 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $9,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Pure Storage by 11.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,235,000 after acquiring an additional 14,659 shares during the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1,160.1% in the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 73,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,671,000 after purchasing an additional 67,285 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after buying an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 187,874 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,541,000 after buying an additional 68,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $264,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % 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 8,895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $570,258.45. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 72,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,675,349.97. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSTG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.70.

Pure Storage Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $67.58 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.56. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.78 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.05 billion, a PE ratio of 177.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.09.

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.