Brokerages Set Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Target Price at $95.26

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.2632.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PSTG shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd.

Pure Storage Trading Down 6.1%

NYSE:PSTG opened at $71.25 on Thursday. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $34.51 and a 12-month high of $100.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.09. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 187.50, a PEG ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 1.27.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In related news, CAO Mona Chu sold 9,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.91, for a total value of $771,916.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 107,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,115,343.23. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.33, for a total value of $8,733,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,199,000. This trade represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 427,311 shares of company stock valued at $36,629,100. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the third quarter worth $26,000. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the third quarter worth $27,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 287.1% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.