Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Holdings Lifted by Stephens Investment Management Group LLC

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,142,697 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.35% of Pure Storage worth $50,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth about $216,690,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $210,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,386,864 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Pure Storage by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,162,081 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $255,677,000 after acquiring an additional 657,175 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $619,330.42. Following the sale, the director owned 21,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,209,000.90. The trade was a 33.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total value of $1,253,225.45. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 261,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,498,234.25. The trade was a 7.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 147,684 shares of company stock valued at $7,713,802. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PSTG shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pure Storage from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report 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 report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.95.

Pure Storage Trading Down 1.6%

Pure Storage stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $55.45. The stock had a trading volume of 404,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,744. The stock has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 150.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.06. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.22.

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

Pure Storage Company 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.