Victory Capital Management Inc. Trims Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 247,649 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 37,000 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Pure Storage worth $10,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 0.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 7.7% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,339 shares of the technology company's stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,327 shares of the technology company's stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4.0% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 121,895 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,396,000 after buying an additional 4,687 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.01, for a total value of $5,201,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 801,959 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,709,887.59. The trade was a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total transaction of $1,253,225.45. Following the transaction, the insider owned 261,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,498,234.25. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,666 shares of company stock worth $7,819,260 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research note 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. Citigroup increased their target price on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 report on Thursday, May 29th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.95.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.1%

Pure Storage stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.56. 1,435,545 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,184,357. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $73.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.91. The company has a market cap of $18.81 billion, a PE ratio of 155.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.06.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.