Citigroup Lowers Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target to $77.00

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $80.00 to $77.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 40.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on PSTG. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Stock Down 12.0 %

PSTG stock traded down $7.47 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $54.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,073,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,443,968. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.51, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.28. Pure Storage has a 52-week low of $40.95 and a 52-week high of $73.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $479,611,127.10. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 11.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,235,000 after purchasing an additional 14,659 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 1,160.1% in the third quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 73,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,671,000 after buying an additional 67,285 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 0.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after buying an additional 368,643 shares during the period. Sycomore Asset Management raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 57.8% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 187,874 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 68,840 shares during the period. Finally, Asio Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth $264,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.