Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Up 2.2%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares shot up 2.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $51.87 and last traded at $51.61. 303,697 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 4,585,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PSTG. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America increased their target price on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $52.00 to $63.00 in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Up 2.3 %

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 303.61, a P/E/G ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 380,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,793,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,666,781,000 after purchasing an additional 663,465 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Pure Storage by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,115,955,000 after acquiring an additional 567,358 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $144,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,104 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,028,716 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,664,000 after purchasing an additional 160,877 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $121,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.