Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Acquires New Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,433,275 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,906,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 1.05% of Pure Storage at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 243,185 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,620,000 after buying an additional 37,906 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 314,582 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,325,000 after acquiring an additional 86,987 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at $276,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 34,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,115 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 155.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 89,571 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,502,000 after buying an additional 54,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PSTG. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.20.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $50.69 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.42. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.76 and a 1 year high of $73.67.

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.