Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 954.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 896 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Pure Storage stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $53.83. 1,813,021 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,025,754. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $17.51 billion, a PE ratio of 194.21, a PEG ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 1.11. Pure Storage, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.00 and a twelve month high of $70.41.

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

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In related news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,299,560.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $911,941.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 518,623 shares in the company, valued at $33,082,961.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,299,560.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,114 shares of company stock valued at $7,174,052 over the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PSTG shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Pure Storage from $46.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Securities lowered Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Pure Storage 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.