Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 21,454 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. $PSTG

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 8.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,607 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,454 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Pure Storage worth $14,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Pure Storage by 44.1% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 306,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,663,000 after buying an additional 93,945 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 5.5% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,932 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $245,000. Bullseye Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 6.0% in the second quarter. Bullseye Asset Management LLC now owns 88,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,073,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 86,576 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,985,000 after acquiring an additional 6,323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSTG has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Pure Storage from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Monday, November 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $93.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.61.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of PSTG opened at $83.25 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.12. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $100.59. The company has a market capitalization of $27.36 billion, a PE ratio of 203.04, a PEG ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 4.15%. Equities research analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In related news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.93, for a total value of $230,790.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,257,266.99. This represents a 15.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 9,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.91, for a total transaction of $771,916.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 107,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,115,343.23. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 347,811 shares of company stock valued at $31,067,815 over the last quarter. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.