Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Down 1.2%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $51.81 and last traded at $51.82. 521,510 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 4,460,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PSTG shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pure Storage from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Down 3.9 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.06. The firm has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a PE ratio of 296.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $784.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Pure Storage's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total transaction of $807,100.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 507,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total value of $807,100.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 507,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock worth $15,266,704. Corporate insiders own 6.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 464,256 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 76,421 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 687,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $24,492,000 after acquiring an additional 70,620 shares during the last quarter. Weil Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the 3rd quarter valued at about $433,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth approximately $514,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Pure Storage by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 533,530 shares of the technology company's stock worth $19,026,000 after purchasing an additional 62,274 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.