Polen Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,643 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at about $233,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,141 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Pure Storage by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $106,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Pure Storage by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 110,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,809,000 after purchasing an additional 51,127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PSTG shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.20.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total transaction of $570,258.45. Following the sale, the executive now owns 72,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,675,349.97. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:PSTG opened at $50.54 on Tuesday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.76 and a twelve month high of $73.67. The company has a market cap of $16.49 billion, a PE ratio of 133.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.34.

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.