Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Down 0.7%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares fell 0.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $52.42 and last traded at $52.59. 480,211 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 4,483,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on PSTG shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut Pure Storage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.83. 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 has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 309.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of Pure Storage 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 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704. 6.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Pure Storage by 19.7% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 464,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 76,421 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Pure Storage by 11.4% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 687,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,492,000 after buying an additional 70,620 shares during the period. Weil Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the third quarter worth approximately $433,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth approximately $514,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Pure Storage by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 533,530 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,026,000 after buying an additional 62,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.