Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Sells 3,124 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning lessened its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 34.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,019 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,124 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Pure Storage by 197.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG opened at $63.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a PE ratio of 227.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.11. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.00 and a 1-year high of $70.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.48.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $693.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $681.37 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive now directly owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at $7,200,794.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,539 shares of company stock valued at $13,597,221. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Northland Securities downgraded Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.11.

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.