Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Up 0.5%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s share price traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $51.31 and last traded at $50.40. 289,411 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 4,438,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.13.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PSTG. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.31, a PEG ratio of 6.68 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $51.67 and a 200 day moving average of $42.18.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. The company 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%. Pure Storage’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Pure Storage news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.14, for a total transaction of $1,526,815.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at $7,200,794.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704 in the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,073 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 1,150 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Pure Storage by 295.6% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the first quarter worth $25,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Pure Storage by 53.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.