Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,155,313 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,971,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.35% of Pure Storage as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 49.1% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 40.9% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSTG opened at $49.34 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.76. The company has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.76 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,178 shares of company stock valued at $2,316,746. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, November 14th. 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 company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.20.

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.