Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Trading Up 0.1%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $52.65 and last traded at $52.33. Approximately 729,283 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 4,680,966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PSTG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.53.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a PE ratio of 307.84, a P/E/G ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.79.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,389,852.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,793,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,666,781,000 after buying an additional 663,465 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Pure Storage by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,115,955,000 after acquiring an additional 567,358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,091,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,464,000 after buying an additional 2,807,489 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,296,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $153,054,000 after acquiring an additional 140,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in Pure Storage by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $144,926,000 after buying an additional 1,028,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.