Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Coverage Initiated at Oppenheimer

Stock analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 40.53% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on PSTG. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Pure Storage from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.15.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $49.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $31.00 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The stock has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.53, a PEG ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.95.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released 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 net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. As a group, analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 94,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. This trade represents a 8.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total value of $6,176,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 700,000 shares in the company, valued at $43,232,000. This trade represents a 12.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 454,542 shares of company stock valued at $24,775,030. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Pure Storage by 56.1% during the second 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 last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pure Storage by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,789,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,652,735,000 after acquiring an additional 495,183 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its stake in Pure Storage by 9,131.0% during the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 394,996 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,536,000 after acquiring an additional 390,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after purchasing an additional 368,643 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.