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

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,153 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $4,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. 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 period. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 157.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 713 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 180.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In related news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $619,330.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,209,000.90. This trade represents a 33.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 872 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total transaction of $44,916.72. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 89,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,602,470.01. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,150,676 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $51.64. The stock had a trading volume of 5,428,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,977,481. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.57 and a 200-day moving average of $56.21. The company has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.05. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.51 and a 12-month high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 16.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $66.00 price target (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

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.