Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Trading 0.5% Higher

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares traded up 0.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $66.45 and last traded at $65.49. 515,593 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 4,278,393 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Northland Securities cut Pure Storage from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.95.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.88 billion, a PE ratio of 229.32, a PEG ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 is available at this link. In other Pure Storage news, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 291,399 shares of company stock valued at $15,578,814 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,789,480 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,652,735,000 after purchasing an additional 495,183 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,104 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,028,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,664,000 after purchasing an additional 160,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $115,452,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,068,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,754,000 after purchasing an additional 943,850 shares during 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.