Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $80.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

PSTG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Capmk downgraded Pure Storage from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Pure Storage from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pure Storage has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $67.68.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

NYSE:PSTG opened at $64.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $20.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 230.29, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.06. Pure Storage has a 1-year low of $31.00 and a 1-year high of $70.41.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. The business had revenue of $693.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $681.37 million. On average, research analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 18,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total value of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 291,399 shares of company stock valued at $15,578,814. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 295.6% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 633 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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.