Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Purchases 20,320 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 38.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,004 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,320 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Pure Storage were worth $3,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $216,690,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $210,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 1,725.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,525,208 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $155,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386,864 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $413,982,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,971,000. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pure Storage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

PSTG traded up $0.67 on Tuesday, reaching $52.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,442,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,866,736. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.51 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The stock has a market cap of $17.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.05. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.83 and its 200 day moving average is $56.20.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 16.06% and a net margin of 4.22%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.01, for a total value of $5,201,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 801,959 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,709,887.59. This represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,977 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total transaction of $285,429.07. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 90,223 shares in the company, valued at $3,691,022.93. This trade represents a 7.18% 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 worth $6,150,676 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

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.