LPL Financial LLC Grows Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. by 22.6%, acquiring an additional 21,812 shares, bringing its total to 118,368 shares valued at approximately $5.24 million.
• Insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of Pure Storage, resulting in a 28.44% decrease in their ownership, while over the last three months, insiders sold a total of 446,794 shares.
• Market analysts have mixed ratings for Pure Storage, with one analyst rating it as a sell, five as hold, and fifteen as buy, with a target price averaging $70.21 following various adjustments.

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 118,368 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 21,812 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $5,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 55.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 35.6% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 910 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 5.1% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.3% during the first quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 11,372 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 3.8% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 7,158 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,068,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,709,610. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.03. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $309,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 75,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,923,592.25. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Francis Murphy sold 6,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.17, for a total value of $390,887.03. Following the sale, the director owned 19,706 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,886.02. This represents a 26.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 446,794 shares of company stock worth $26,641,913. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PSTG. Barclays dropped their price objective on Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.21.

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.