Analysts Set Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target at $72.70

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and fifteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG opened at $67.88 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.10 and a 200-day moving average of $57.94. The company has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage has a 1 year low of $38.78 and a 1 year high of $73.67.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total value of $6,555,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,316,722 shares in the company, valued at $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $1,229,875.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at $16,142,827.52. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,690,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $210,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Pure Storage by 1,725.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,525,208 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,124,000 after purchasing an additional 2,386,864 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 210.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,553,402 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $137,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.