Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Up 4.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) rose 4.7% on Thursday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $100.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Pure Storage traded as high as $72.33 and last traded at $72.12. Approximately 10,668,797 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 250% from the average daily volume of 3,047,823 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.85.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $93.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $81.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.26.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.42, for a total value of $528,978.42. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 62,759 shares in the company, valued at $5,486,391.78. This trade represents a 8.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.33, for a total value of $8,733,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,199,000. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 327,311 shares of company stock worth $29,498,100 over the last ninety days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Pure Storage by 287.1% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 4.7%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.29. The company has a market cap of $23.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 175.91, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 4.15%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.