Brokerages Set Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Target Price at $73.20

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.20.

A number of research analysts have commented on PSTG shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In related news, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $1,229,875.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,142,827.52. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $570,258.45. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 72,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,675,349.97. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 0.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,443,732 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,054,448,000 after purchasing an additional 615,931 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after purchasing an additional 626,427 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,207,162 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $442,736,000 after purchasing an additional 401,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 5.0 %

NYSE:PSTG opened at $50.99 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.36. Pure Storage has a 52 week low of $44.76 and a 52 week high of $73.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09.

About Pure Storage

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.