GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires 10,435 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 107.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,171 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,435 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $1,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 4,918 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 464,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 76,421 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 178.4% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 208,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,440,000 after purchasing an additional 133,850 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,184,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,181,000 after purchasing an additional 126,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PSTG. UBS Group downgraded Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Securities downgraded Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $46.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $911,941.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 518,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,082,961.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $911,941.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 518,623 shares in the company, valued at $33,082,961.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.14, for a total value of $1,526,815.62. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,200,794.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 231,247 shares of company stock valued at $12,496,701 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of PSTG stock traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.96. The stock had a trading volume of 955,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,208,608. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.00 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 237.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $693.48 million for 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%. On average, analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.