Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Down 3% – Here’s Why

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s stock price was down 3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $52.84 and last traded at $52.98. Approximately 89,920 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 98% from the average daily volume of 3,624,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PSTG. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on Pure Storage from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Lake Street Capital decreased their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.88 and its 200 day moving average price 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 company has a market cap of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.50, a P/E/G ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 1.10.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly 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. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The company had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. On average, analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,862,874.48. The trade was a 20.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.32, for a total transaction of $5,732,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $17,196,000. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 354,542 shares of company stock valued at $18,599,030. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 210.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,553,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $137,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730,123 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 56.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,163,000 after acquiring an additional 747,034 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after buying an additional 626,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter worth about $20,470,000. 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.