Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 13.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 275,796 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,611 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $12,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 9,201 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 264,096 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,223,000 after purchasing an additional 45,152 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 14,421 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 5,087 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 103,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,349,000 after buying an additional 1,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 80,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,944,000 after buying an additional 7,036 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total transaction of $1,253,225.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 261,465 shares in the company, valued at $14,498,234.25. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total transaction of $11,988,539.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,160,000. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 446,794 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,913 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSTG has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.21.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $57.35 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $55.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.01. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The company has a market capitalization of $18.74 billion, a PE ratio of 155.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The business had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

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.