StockNews.com Lowers Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PSTG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.4 %

Pure Storage stock opened at $52.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $58.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.86 and its 200 day moving average is $41.75. The company has a market capitalization of $17.21 billion, a PE ratio of 311.61, a PEG ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 1.15.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Pure Storage’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 380,834 shares in the company, valued at $20,389,852.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Pure Storage by 19.7% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 464,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 76,421 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 11.4% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 687,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,492,000 after purchasing an additional 70,620 shares during the period. Weil Company Inc. bought a new position in Pure Storage during the third quarter worth about $433,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $514,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Pure Storage by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 533,530 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,026,000 after purchasing an additional 62,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.