Peregrine Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,261 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 33,667 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Pure Storage worth $6,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.8% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 120,438 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,096,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 17,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Advisory Research Inc. raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 22,277 shares of the technology company's stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

PSTG stock traded up $1.85 on Thursday, hitting $54.99. The company had a trading volume of 3,911,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,789,419. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $58.46. The stock has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 323.47, a P/E/G ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.15. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $48.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.44.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PSTG shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, March 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.53.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at $1,015,150.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 380,834 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.