Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Grows Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,142,697 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.35% of Pure Storage worth $50,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 5,233.3% during the 1st quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 800 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 910 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 6,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.17, for a total transaction of $390,887.03. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,706 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,886.02. This represents a 26.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, the insider owned 801,959 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,709,887.59. This represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,643 shares of company stock valued at $8,104,689. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pure Storage Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Pure Storage stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.83. 2,273,735 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,919,107. The stock has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.20, a PEG ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's fifty day moving average is $54.64 and its 200-day moving average is $55.15. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.51 and a 52 week high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million for 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 company's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PSTG. Barclays decreased their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pure Storage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $66.00 price objective (up from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

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.