Insider Selling: Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Insider Sells 198,749 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of Pure Storage at an average price of $60.32, reducing his ownership by 28.44%.
• Pure Storage reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.29 for the last quarter, beating expectations and showing a 12.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• Several research firms have updated their price targets on Pure Storage, with an average target of $69.95 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total value of $11,988,539.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 500,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,160,000. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

John Colgrove also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, July 30th, John Colgrove sold 187,740 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $11,268,154.80.
• On Tuesday, July 29th, John Colgrove sold 13,511 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total value of $811,875.99.
• On Monday, May 12th, John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.01, for a total value of $5,201,000.00.

Pure Storage Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of PSTG stock traded up $1.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $55.89. The stock had a trading volume of 380,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,748,909. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $55.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.54. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.51 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.27 billion, a PE ratio of 151.30, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Pure Storage's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSTG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI upped 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.95.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. World Investment Advisors grew its position in Pure Storage by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 9,635 shares of the technology company's stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,775 shares of the technology company's stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the technology company's stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,790 shares of the technology company's stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ramirez Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 40.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 700 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

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.