Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Citigroup from $110.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 52.34% from the stock’s current price.

PSTG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Pure Storage from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday, November 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.16.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG traded down $25.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,272,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,990,108. Pure Storage has a 52 week low of $34.51 and a 52 week high of $100.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.65 billion, a PE ratio of 168.12, a P/E/G ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.27.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 11.34%. Analysts anticipate that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,051 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.42, for a total transaction of $528,978.42. Following the sale, the executive owned 62,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,486,391.78. The trade was a 8.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.93, for a total value of $230,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,257,266.99. This trade represents a 15.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 330,311 shares of company stock valued at $29,728,890. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the second quarter valued at about $225,203,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Pure Storage by 786.9% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,027,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,554,000 after purchasing an additional 3,573,493 shares during the period. Atreides Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,552,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 112.9% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,926,836 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $283,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,300 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Pure Storage by 25.9% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $401,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,782 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.