Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on PSTG. Oppenheimer started coverage on Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Stock Down 15.1 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $53.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $40.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.24.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $570,258.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 72,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,675,349.97. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,207,050.96. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 over the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 212 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.