Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) rose 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $53.33 and last traded at $52.70. Approximately 569,948 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 5,029,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim started coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.72.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a PE ratio of 306.43, a PEG ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $90,143,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 24.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,091,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,464,000 after acquiring an additional 2,807,489 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 5,725.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,614,837 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587,116 shares during the period. Spyglass Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,678,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,285 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.