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

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.95.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note 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 report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on Pure Storage from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd.

Pure Storage Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:PSTG traded down $1.36 on Thursday, hitting $51.51. The company had a trading volume of 5,726,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,944,870. Pure Storage has a 52-week low of $34.51 and a 52-week high of $73.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $50.58 and a 200 day moving average of $56.03. The company has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a PE ratio of 139.21, a PEG ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 11,234 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,977 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total transaction of $285,429.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 90,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,691,022.93. This represents a 7.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 119,083 shares of company stock worth $6,150,676. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at about $216,690,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at about $210,906,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1,725.3% during 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 buying an additional 2,386,864 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 25.9% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,075,944 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $401,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,782 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares during the period. 83.42% of the stock is 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.