Brokerages Set Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target at $72.70

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

PSTG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.01, for a total transaction of $5,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,404,000. This trade represents a 20.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $516,611.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 337,853 shares of company stock worth $19,538,191. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 175.3% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $63.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 167.50, a P/E/G ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.13. Pure Storage has a 1 year low of $34.32 and a 1 year high of $70.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.97.

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.