National Pension Service Increases Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 591,759 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,600 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $36,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Pure Storage by 6.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after acquiring an additional 626,427 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in Pure Storage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,575,000 after acquiring an additional 177,559 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $269,798,000 after buying an additional 219,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,163,000 after buying an additional 747,034 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at $16,142,827.52. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total value of $6,555,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,316,722 shares in the company, valued at $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE PSTG opened at $52.42 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.76 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on PSTG shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer started coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.20.

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.