Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $80.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.32% from the company’s previous close.

PSTG has been the subject of several other research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Pure Storage from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.42.

Pure Storage Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of PSTG opened at $65.94 on Friday. Pure Storage has a 1-year low of $31.00 and a 1-year high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 235.50, a PEG ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.30 and a 200 day moving average of $48.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at $1,015,150.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,498 shares in the company, valued at $2,299,560.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 291,399 shares of company stock worth $15,578,814. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $115,452,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 1,025.3% during the third 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 4,095.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,121,344 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,299,000 after buying an additional 1,094,618 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 33.8% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $144,926,000 after buying an additional 1,028,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 835.2% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,078,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,458,000 after buying an additional 963,140 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.