Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 13,710 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 96,725 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 13,710 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $5,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 11.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,659 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD lifted its stake 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 valued at $3,671,000 after acquiring an additional 67,285 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 187,874 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,541,000 after acquiring an additional 68,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth $264,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, 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 directly owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,142,827.52. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 in the last 90 days. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $62.49 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.09 and its 200 day moving average is $58.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 164.45, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.95 and a 12 month high of $73.67.

Pure Storage 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.