Congress Asset Management Co. Boosts Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,956,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,010 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $120,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 39.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 27,399 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after buying an additional 7,780 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 10.5% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 50,547 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,539,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 462.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.70.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG stock opened at $67.78 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.78 and a 1-year high of $73.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.70. The firm has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.38, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

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.