Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Lake Street Capital lowered their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $68.00. The stock had previously closed at $59.76, but opened at $51.01. Lake Street Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Pure Storage shares last traded at $52.46, with a volume of 2,374,213 shares traded.
A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group cut their target price on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities downgraded shares of Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.85.
Insider Activity
In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total transaction of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at $53,550,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 328,995 shares of company stock valued at $19,175,193. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the first quarter worth $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Pure Storage by 242.9% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.
Pure Storage Trading Down 15.8 %
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.57. The company has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.71, a P/E/G ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.11.
Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG – Get Free Report) last posted 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. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. The company had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. As a group, analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.
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.