Investors Purchase High Volume of Pure Storage Call Options (NYSE:PSTG)

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG – Get Rating) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 11,511 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 56% compared to the average volume of 7,365 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PSTG shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $37.11.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $27.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.86. Pure Storage has a 12 month low of $22.14 and a 12 month high of $32.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.24, a P/E/G ratio of 13.79 and a beta of 1.22.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.17. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $810.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.30 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pure Storage will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 19,155 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.08, for a total transaction of $499,562.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 63,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,653,889.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 28,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $697,499.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 192,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,715,059.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 19,155 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.08, for a total transaction of $499,562.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 63,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,653,889.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. American National Bank purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 84.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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Pure Storage, Inc engages in the business of delivering innovative and disruptive data storage, products, and services that enable customers to maximize the value of data. The firm is also involved in the provision of data storage and management with a mission to redefine the storage experience by simplifying how people consume and interact with data.