Analysts Set Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Target Price at $66.95

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.95.

PSTG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target (down previously from $68.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Lake Street Capital dropped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total transaction of $5,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at $53,550,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 94,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 564,423 shares of company stock worth $30,818,171. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 61.2% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,912 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 4,542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 3.2% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 7,202 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its stake in Pure Storage by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 12,579 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE PSTG opened at $53.89 on Friday. Pure Storage has a 1 year low of $31.00 and a 1 year high of $70.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 192.46, a P/E/G ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 1.11.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, research analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.