Intech Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 150,506 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,077 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $7,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,163,000 after acquiring an additional 747,034 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 56.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,345,000 after buying an additional 1,327,873 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Pure Storage by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,357,962 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,405,000 after purchasing an additional 15,747 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,234,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,470,000 after purchasing an additional 249,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Pure Storage by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,303,863 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,728,000 after purchasing an additional 235,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

NYSE:PSTG opened at $51.64 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.65 and a 200-day moving average of $56.85. The company has a market capitalization of $16.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.10, a PEG ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 1.10. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.00 and a 52 week high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PSTG shares. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,639 shares in the company, valued at $4,862,874.48. This trade represents a 20.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total transaction of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030 in the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pure Storage Company 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.