Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $5.31 Million Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $5,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 67,232 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 40.9% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Pure Storage by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,917 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $67.28 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.49. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $38.78 and a one year high of $73.67. The firm has a market cap of $21.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 177.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.09.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $479,611,127.10. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,207,050.96. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PSTG. UBS Group boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.70.

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.