Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Up 0.9%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s share price shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $53.15 and last traded at $52.69. 639,800 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 4,513,207 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Raymond James downgraded Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $63.00 in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 311.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.86 and a 200-day moving average of $41.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total transaction of $807,100.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 507,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704. Corporate insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,793,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,666,781,000 after acquiring an additional 663,465 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,115,955,000 after purchasing an additional 567,358 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 33.8% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after buying an additional 1,028,104 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,028,716 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,664,000 after buying an additional 160,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Pure Storage by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after buying an additional 1,294,285 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.