Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Sells $309,900.00 in Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total value of $309,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 75,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,923,592.25. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Dan Fitzsimons also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 12th, Dan Fitzsimons sold 872 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total transaction of $44,916.72.
• On Monday, April 21st, Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,977 shares of Pure Storage stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total transaction of $285,429.07.

Pure Storage Stock Up 0.4%

PSTG opened at $54.92 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.93. The stock has a market cap of $17.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.05. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $73.67.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PSTG. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.95.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,443,732 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,054,448,000 after acquiring an additional 615,931 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $401,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,782 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Pure Storage by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,921,392 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $363,751,000 after purchasing an additional 174,449 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,162,081 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $255,677,000 after purchasing an additional 657,175 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.