Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Up 1.9%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s stock price rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $53.36 and last traded at $53.31. Approximately 3,654,101 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 30% from the average daily volume of 2,804,948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSTG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James cut Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 304.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In related news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 271,295 shares of company stock worth $14,459,604. 6.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth about $90,143,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,091,077 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $359,464,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807,489 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 5,725.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,614,837 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,116 shares in the last quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth about $36,678,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $121,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,285 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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.