Man Group plc Sells 264,173 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Man Group plc lowered its position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 62.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 157,174 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 264,173 shares during the period. Man Group plc's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $9,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 9.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 316,911 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,921,000 after purchasing an additional 27,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 193.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 118,615 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,287,000 after purchasing an additional 78,233 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,990 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,103 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 3,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at about $251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,709,887.59. The trade was a 11.09% decrease in their position. 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 Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total transaction of $44,916.72. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 89,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,602,470.01. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 107,849 shares of company stock worth $5,531,346. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pure Storage Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of PSTG stock traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $55.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,770,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,085,157. 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 $18.09 billion, a PE ratio of 146.02, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $47.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.70.

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.