Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 33,835 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 38.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,021 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 33,835 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $2,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PSTG. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 284,649 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,486,000 after acquiring an additional 54,256 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,566,374 shares of the technology company's stock worth $157,652,000 after purchasing an additional 12,972 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 11.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,339 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $333,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 14,032 shares of the technology company's stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 75,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,923,592.25. This represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 21,930 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,000.90. The trade was a 33.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,083 shares of company stock worth $6,460,576. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pure Storage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective 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 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. 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 report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

Pure Storage Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE PSTG traded down $0.15 on Friday, hitting $55.47. 3,768,917 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,932,933. The business's 50 day moving average price is $51.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.80. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.51 and a 52-week high of $73.67. The company has a market capitalization of $18.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.91, a P/E/G ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.05.

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, sell-side analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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.