William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 200,839 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 455,662 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 200,839 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $29,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,452,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 56.1% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4,095.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $38,458,000 after purchasing an additional 963,140 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,115,955,000 after buying an additional 567,358 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.3 %

PSTG stock opened at $48.90 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.64, a P/E/G ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.11. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.00 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total value of $6,176,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 700,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,232,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $911,941.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 518,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,082,961.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total value of $6,176,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 700,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,232,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 324,177 shares of company stock valued at $18,863,083. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSTG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Pure Storage from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Pure Storage from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.95.

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.