Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $7.10 Million Stock Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 20.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,580 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 35,590 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $7,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth about $115,452,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 4,095.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,121,344 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,618 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 835.2% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,078,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,458,000 after buying an additional 963,140 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,754,000 after acquiring an additional 943,850 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,733,000 after acquiring an additional 943,850 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 subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Capmk downgraded shares of Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Pure Storage Trading Up 0.1 %

PSTG stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $58.24. The stock had a trading volume of 196,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,044,290. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.00 and a twelve month high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $18.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 207.86, a PEG ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.88.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $693.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $681.37 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 15.34%. As a group, research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total transaction of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 900,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at $53,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,114 shares of company stock worth $7,174,052 over the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pure Storage Profile

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.