Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Position in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,566,374 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Pure Storage were worth $157,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TT International Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1,160.1% during the third 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. Sycomore Asset Management boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 57.8% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 187,874 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 68,840 shares during the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,196,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $515,596,000 after purchasing an additional 626,427 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE PSTG opened at $46.06 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.37. The stock has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.08. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.48 and a 52 week high of $73.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PSTG shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Company 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.