Graphene Investments SAS Lowers Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Graphene Investments SAS decreased its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 32.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,700 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 29,000 shares during the quarter. Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $3,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 82.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 517,692 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,440,000 after buying an additional 233,389 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,548 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Pure Storage by 3.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,411,321 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,271,000 after purchasing an additional 42,965 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in Pure Storage by 3.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 127,178 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,530,000 after purchasing an additional 4,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 88.9% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 4,918 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE PSTG traded up $0.92 on Wednesday, reaching $63.69. 1,918,646 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,276,425. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 225.54, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.39.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $693.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $681.37 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. Equities research analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PSTG shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Northland Securities downgraded Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.14, for a total transaction of $1,526,815.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 138,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,200,794.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 291,399 shares of company stock worth $15,578,814. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

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.