Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Scott Dietzen Sells 147,000 Shares

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Pure Storage Stock Down 1.9 %

Pure Storage stock opened at $52.32 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 307.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.83. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $22.14 and a one year high of $58.46.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PSTG. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.53.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 121.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,660 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 11,891 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter valued at about $233,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter valued at about $596,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Pure Storage by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 43,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after buying an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pure Storage by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,035,914 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,582,000 after buying an additional 6,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.