Quest Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,197 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PSTG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth about $315,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Pure Storage by 182.5% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 216,808 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $11,262,000 after acquiring an additional 140,071 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,065,000. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 8.0% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 162,501 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,460,000 after acquiring an additional 12,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter worth approximately $2,017,000. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total value of $450,709.65. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 94,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,785,578.82. This represents a 8.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total value of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 500,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030 in the last ninety days. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PSTG. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.95.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.66. 2,432,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,645,373. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.70 and a 200-day moving average of $56.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $31.00 and a one year high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.15, a PEG ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 1.10.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.