State of Michigan Retirement System Invests $3.79 Million in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

State of Michigan Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 72,900 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,790,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PSTG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at $115,452,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 33.8% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,104 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 835.2% in the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,078,454 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,458,000 after purchasing an additional 963,140 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,754,000 after purchasing an additional 943,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,733,000 after purchasing an additional 943,850 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Capmk lowered Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $62.79 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.39. The stock has a market cap of $20.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 224.25, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.11. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.00 and a 12-month high of $70.41. 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 (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. The business had revenue of $693.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $681.37 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,299,560.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total transaction of $807,100.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 507,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,813,107.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 291,399 shares of company stock valued at $15,578,814. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.