Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Receives Outperform Rating from William Blair

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by William Blair in a research report issued on Thursday,RTT News reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PSTG. Lake Street Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective (down previously from $68.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.15.

Pure Storage Trading Down 3.3 %

PSTG stock opened at $48.18 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage has a 52-week low of $31.00 and a 52-week high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.45, a PEG ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.10.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pure Storage news, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,862,874.48. This trade represents a 20.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total transaction of $4,994,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 454,542 shares of company stock worth $24,775,030. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, City State Bank raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 175.0% in the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 550 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by 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.