Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 83,553 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,500 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $5,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG opened at $65.14 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 171.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.32 and a 1-year high of $73.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares in the company, valued at $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,207,050.96. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 in the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PSTG shares. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.95.

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.