John Francis Murphy Sells 11,234 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $619,330.42. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,209,000.90. This trade represents a 33.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Pure Storage Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of PSTG stock traded down $0.53 on Thursday, reaching $54.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,746,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,965,218. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.18. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.51 and a 1 year high of $73.67. The company has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.05.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 16.06%. The business's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Pure Storage by 55.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 5,233.3% in the first quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 800 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.