Congress Asset Management Co. Increases Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,956,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 76,010 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. owned 0.60% of Pure Storage worth $120,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 67,232 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,130,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,917 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 67,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $67.78 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.78 and a 12-month high of $73.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PSTG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.70.

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.