Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Pure Storage, Inc. has received an average analyst recommendation of "Moderate Buy", with 14 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating among the 20 analysts covering the stock.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for PSTG, with estimates ranging from $66.00 to $75.00, indicating optimism about the company's future performance.
• Insider trading activity showed significant sales, with insiders offloading 547,666 shares valued at approximately $31.9 million in the last ninety days, reflecting a potential shift in confidence.

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.9474.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PSTG shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In related news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 6,959 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.17, for a total transaction of $390,887.03. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,886.02. This trade represents a 26.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the company's 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 owned 500,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,160,000. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 547,666 shares of company stock valued at $31,887,830 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new position in Pure Storage in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 402.8% during the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 548 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, SouthState Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 474.8% in the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 592 shares of the technology company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Pure Storage Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $57.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a PE ratio of 156.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 1.07. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $34.51 and a 12-month high of $73.67. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $55.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.50.

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 (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $770.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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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