Bailard Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,077 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,971 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $7,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in Pure Storage by 0.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,469,487,000 after buying an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $515,596,000 after acquiring an additional 626,427 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $285,575,000 after acquiring an additional 177,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $269,798,000 after acquiring an additional 219,971 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,163,000 after acquiring an additional 747,034 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer started coverage on Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.20.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $516,611.76. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,207,050.96. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $52.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.20. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.76 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.95, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09.

Pure Storage Company 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.