Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys 800 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 86,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $5,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Pure Storage by 93.4% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 27,399 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 7,780 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.70.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG stock opened at $67.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 177.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.78 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.53 and a 200-day moving average of $57.49.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,316,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 in the last quarter. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.