MML Investors Services LLC Sells 4,540 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

MML Investors Services LLC lessened its position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 22.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,609 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,540 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Pure Storage by 40.9% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 174.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 741 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $516,611.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,611,127.10. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 362,853 shares of company stock worth $20,676,642 in the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PSTG shares. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.70.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSTG opened at $64.40 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $34.32 and a one year high of $70.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a PE ratio of 169.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.13.

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.