Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

Several research analysts have issued reports on PSTG shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.01, for a total value of $5,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,404,000. This trade represents a 20.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 20,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total value of $1,063,320.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 75,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,913,588. This represents a 21.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 337,853 shares of company stock worth $19,538,191. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in Pure Storage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,469,487,000 after purchasing an additional 368,643 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 626,427 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 3.2% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $285,575,000 after buying an additional 177,559 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 4.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $269,798,000 after acquiring an additional 219,971 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Pure Storage by 22.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,163,000 after acquiring an additional 747,034 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG opened at $61.43 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.85. The company has a market capitalization of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.66, a PEG ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.13. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $34.32 and a 12-month high of $70.41.

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.