Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) PT Raised to $60.00 at Morgan Stanley

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $48.00 to $60.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays cut shares of Pure Storage from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $51.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Pure Storage from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $52.26.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $61.05 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.86. 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 stock has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 359.14, a PEG ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.15. Pure Storage has a twelve month low of $25.29 and a twelve month high of $62.22.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 380,834 shares in the company, valued at $20,389,852.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth about $115,452,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,587,116 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,294,285 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1,025.3% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,269,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,235,000 after buying an additional 1,157,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Pure Storage by 4,095.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,121,344 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,618 shares during 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 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.