Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,654 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 5,725.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,614,837 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,116 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 61.5% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,285 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 1,025.3% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,269,927 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157,079 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 33.8% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,754,000 after acquiring an additional 943,850 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 3.2 %

PSTG stock opened at $52.25 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.14 and a 1-year high of $58.46. The stock has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is $50.66 and its 200 day moving average is $41.63.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,389,852.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704 over the last 90 days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.63.

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.