Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.95.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,977 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $285,429.07. Following the sale, the executive now owns 90,223 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,691,022.93. This represents a 7.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.01, for a total value of $5,201,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 801,959 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,709,887.59. The trade was a 11.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,083 shares of company stock worth $6,150,676 over the last 90 days. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,690,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 1,725.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,525,208 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $155,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386,864 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company's stock worth $401,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,782 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company's stock worth $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSTG opened at $52.82 on Thursday. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $34.51 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.15. The company has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.05.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The company had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

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.

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