Wedbush Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $80.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PSTG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Pure Storage from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $65.85.

Pure Storage Stock Down 15.8 %

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $50.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.00. Pure Storage has a 52-week low of $31.00 and a 52-week high of $70.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.57. The firm has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.71, a PEG ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its 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 return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. The company had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $756.59 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total transaction of $312,110.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,299,560.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $5,239,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 800,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,912,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mallun Yen sold 4,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.78, for a total transaction of $312,110.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,498 shares in the company, valued at $2,299,560.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 328,995 shares of company stock valued at $19,175,193. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Pure Storage by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,168,335 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,666,000 after buying an additional 28,086 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,733,000 after purchasing an additional 943,850 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth about $592,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter worth about $1,675,000. Institutional investors 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.