Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Lake Street Capital raised their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $53.54, but opened at $62.66. Lake Street Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Pure Storage shares last traded at $65.71, with a volume of 3,884,364 shares changing hands.

PSTG has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total value of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 20,647 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total transaction of $1,063,320.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 75,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,913,588. This represents a 21.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after purchasing an additional 626,427 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,575,000 after purchasing an additional 177,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $269,798,000 after purchasing an additional 219,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,163,000 after purchasing an additional 747,034 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pure Storage Stock Down 4.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $20.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 164.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $52.73 and its 200-day moving average is $56.82.

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.