T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Buys 1,868,782 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. $PSTG

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 25.9%, owning nearly 9.08 million shares valued at approximately $401.8 million by the end of the latest quarter.
• Analysts are optimistic, with fourteen giving a Buy rating and an average consensus price target indicating potential growth to $70.21 per share.
• Despite recent insider sales leading to a 2.2% drop in share price, Pure Storage reported a 12.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $778.49 million for the latest quarter.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 25.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,075,944 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,868,782 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 2.78% of Pure Storage worth $401,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 118,368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,240,000 after purchasing an additional 21,812 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Pure Storage by 13.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 275,796 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,209,000 after purchasing an additional 32,611 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 7.7% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 11.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,339 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 8.4% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,327 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG traded up $2.5580 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.2880. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,724,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,946,799. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.51 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The company has a market capitalization of $19.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.54, a P/E/G ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.07. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $56.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.49.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Pure Storage has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. FY 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total value of $1,253,225.45. Following the transaction, the insider owned 261,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,498,234.25. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $309,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 75,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,923,592.25. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 446,794 shares of company stock worth $26,641,913 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on PSTG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.11.

About Pure Storage

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.