Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Increases Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 83.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 943,850 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.65% of Pure Storage worth $73,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 120,438 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Advisory Research Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 22,277 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company 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 note on Friday, February 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 242,012 shares of company stock valued at $12,932,788 in the last three months. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE PSTG opened at $52.32 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 307.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.00. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.14 and a 1-year high of $58.46.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $789.81 million during 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%. Pure Storage’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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.