Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) by 29.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 721,020 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 298,671 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Pure Storage worth $36,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sycomore Asset Management bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,259,000. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth $6,890,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the second quarter valued at about $721,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Pure Storage by 284.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 55,801 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,901,000 after buying an additional 41,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $709,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PSTG shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Lake Street Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $59.00 price objective (down from $68.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.05.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total transaction of $6,176,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 700,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,232,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total transaction of $6,176,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 700,000 shares in the company, valued at $43,232,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 94,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 454,542 shares of company stock worth $24,775,030 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Trading Down 4.7 %

PSTG stock traded down $2.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,755,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,652,190. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $31.00 and a one year high of $70.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.21 and a 200-day moving average of $57.02. The stock has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a PE ratio of 131.50, a PEG ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.10.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 4.53%. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $756.59 million. Research analysts predict that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.