Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 7,600 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,153 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $4,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 9,635 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,775 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 13,271 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 55.9% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSTG stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,442,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,974,127. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $49.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.17. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.01, for a total transaction of $5,201,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 801,959 shares in the company, valued at $41,709,887.59. This represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 6,977 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $285,429.07. Following the sale, the executive now owns 90,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,691,022.93. The trade was a 7.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 119,083 shares of company stock worth $6,150,676. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PSTG. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

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.