Maverick Capital Ltd. Buys 16,546 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 274.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,564 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 16,546 shares during the quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $1,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 3.0% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,912 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Michael S. Ryan Inc. grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 4.8% during the second quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 4,542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in Pure Storage by 3.2% during the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 7,202 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,073 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on PSTG shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target (down from $68.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.95.

Pure Storage Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $49.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 176.57, a PEG ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $54.67 and its 200 day moving average is $56.84. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.00 and a 52 week high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,639 shares in the company, valued at $4,862,874.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,862,874.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 94,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 458,072 shares of company stock valued at $25,565,792 over the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.