Thompson Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Thompson Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,515 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Pure Storage by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,235,000 after buying an additional 14,659 shares during the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD lifted its position in Pure Storage by 1,160.1% during the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 73,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,671,000 after acquiring an additional 67,285 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares during the period. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth approximately $264,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Pure Storage by 92.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 193,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,570,000 after acquiring an additional 92,762 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,142,827.52. The trade was 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. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $516,611.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSTG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.70.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $69.08 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.36. The company has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 181.78, a PEG 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.

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.