Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.2632.

PSTG has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wedbush raised their price target on Pure Storage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Pure Storage in a report on Monday, November 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $73.65 on Thursday. Pure Storage has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $100.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $87.68 and its 200 day moving average is $71.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.20 billion, a PE ratio of 193.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.27.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 3.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.42, for a total transaction of $528,978.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 62,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,486,391.78. This represents a 8.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.31, for a total transaction of $7,131,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 427,311 shares of company stock worth $36,629,100 over the last 90 days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,891,025 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,840,407,000 after buying an additional 623,019 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Pure Storage by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,864,918 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $910,589,000 after acquiring an additional 199,831 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 25.9% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,782 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,273,696 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $417,830,000 after purchasing an additional 123,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 112.9% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,926,836 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $283,687,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.