Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. $PSTG

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. has significantly reduced its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG) by 88.7%, selling 462,799 shares in the 1st quarter, now owning 58,717 shares valued at approximately $2.6 million.
• Despite institutional selling, other investors like Bank Pictet & Cie and DZ BANK AG have increased their positions in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter, indicating ongoing interest from various financial entities.
• Pure Storage reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.43 per share and revenue of $861 million, exceeding analyst estimates, with a projected EPS of $0.44 for the current fiscal year.

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 88.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,717 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 462,799 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $2,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $401,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,782 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,541,445 shares of the technology company's stock worth $156,780,000 after buying an additional 96,731 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,911,591 shares of the technology company's stock worth $128,896,000 after buying an additional 23,531 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,010,210 shares of the technology company's stock worth $88,992,000 after buying an additional 58,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,461,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,701,000 after acquiring an additional 85,851 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 95,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.08, for a total value of $5,725,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 400,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,032,000. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total transaction of $1,253,225.45. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 261,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,498,234.25. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 551,360 shares of company stock worth $33,317,922. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

NYSE:PSTG traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $82.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,555,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,879,644. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.51 and a 1 year high of $83.32. The stock has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 201.31, a PEG ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.20. The business's fifty day moving average is $61.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.16.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The technology company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.78 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Pure Storage has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PSTG shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Pure Storage from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $76.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $57.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.39.

Pure Storage Company 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.