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

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.11.

Several brokerages have weighed in on PSTG. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Pure Storage from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:PSTG opened at $63.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a PE ratio of 227.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.48 and a 200-day moving average of $50.48. Pure Storage has a 52 week low of $31.00 and a 52 week high of $70.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $693.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $681.37 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. Analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $2,012,461.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 380,834 shares in the company, valued at $20,389,852.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,539 shares of company stock worth $13,597,221. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.