Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

PSTG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $52.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 308.49, a PEG ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.95. Pure Storage has a 52-week low of $22.14 and a 52-week high of $58.46.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total value of $807,100.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704 in the last quarter. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,073 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 295.6% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 8,313 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

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.