Eagle Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 38.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 756,363 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 474,269 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned 0.23% of Pure Storage worth $40,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 242.9% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, City State Bank boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 175.0% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.32, for a total value of $5,732,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,196,000. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 94,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,578.82. The trade was a 8.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PSTG shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $51.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.15, a P/E/G ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.84. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.00 and a 52-week high of $70.41.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal 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.