Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,989 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 705 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $1,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. FMR LLC increased its stake in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after purchasing an additional 626,427 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,575,000 after buying an additional 177,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $269,798,000 after buying an additional 219,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,508,029 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $215,498,000 after buying an additional 9,985 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $1,229,875.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $570,258.45. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 72,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,675,349.97. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.20.

Pure Storage Stock Up 0.6 %

PSTG opened at $51.11 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.53 and its 200-day moving average is $57.38. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.76 and a 52-week high of $73.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09.

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.