Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 36.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 64,583 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,303 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $3,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $1,229,875.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total transaction of $570,258.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 72,927 shares in the company, valued at $4,675,349.97. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PSTG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered Pure Storage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of PSTG opened at $48.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.86, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.76 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.51.

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.