Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Down 5.4% on Insider Selling

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) fell 5.4% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $82.59 and last traded at $83.81. 4,084,492 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 42% from the average session volume of 2,869,782 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.59.

Specifically, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.59, for a total transaction of $9,159,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,159,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.65.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 204.42, a PEG ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $89.04 and its 200-day moving average is $67.77.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 4.15%.The company had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 118,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,240,000 after acquiring an additional 21,812 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 275,796 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,209,000 after purchasing an additional 32,611 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $242,000. Michael S. Ryan Inc. bought a new position in Pure Storage during the second quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 2nd quarter valued at $359,000. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.