Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $60.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Pure Storage from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $68.65.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG stock opened at $62.32 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $20.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 222.57, a PEG ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.95. Pure Storage has a twelve month low of $31.00 and a twelve month high of $70.41.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $693.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $681.37 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pure Storage will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 9,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total transaction of $586,140.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 115,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,451.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 9,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total transaction of $586,140.92. Following the sale, the executive now owns 115,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,857,451.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 900,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 328,995 shares of company stock valued at $19,175,193 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter worth $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Pure Storage by 242.9% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.