UBS Group Lowers Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target to $45.00

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $47.00 to $45.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities downgraded shares of Pure Storage from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Pure Storage from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $65.85.

Pure Storage Stock Down 15.8 %

Pure Storage stock opened at $50.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 179.71, a P/E/G ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.57. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $31.00 and a fifty-two week 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.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total transaction of $312,110.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total value of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 9,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total transaction of $586,140.92. Following the sale, the executive now owns 115,601 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,451.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 328,995 shares of company stock valued at $19,175,193 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Pure Storage by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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.