Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $34.26 Million Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 773,893 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 51,632 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Pure Storage worth $34,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 9,201 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 180.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,414 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,375,649 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $84,506,000 after purchasing an additional 81,907 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $309,900.00. Following the sale, the executive owned 75,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,923,592.25. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 801,959 shares in the company, valued at $41,709,887.59. This represents a 11.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 147,684 shares of company stock worth $7,713,802. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded down $1.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.39. 2,250,341 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,918,248. The company has a market cap of $18.43 billion, a PE ratio of 152.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.06. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $54.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.41. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.51 and a 1-year high of $73.67.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PSTG. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

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.