Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Posts Earnings Results, Hits Expectations

Key Points

• Q4 results: Pure Storage reported $0.58 EPS, matching consensus, and revenue of $964.45 million (vs. $955.6M est.), a 16.1% year‑over‑year revenue increase.
• Insider selling: Company insiders sold 330,311 shares worth about $29.7 million in the last quarter, leaving insiders with roughly 5.60% ownership.
• Wall Street view: The stock has a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a $92.61 average price target and several firms recently raising targets (Oppenheimer $120, Evercore $105, Needham $100).

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.58, FiscalAI reports. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 4.15%.The firm had revenue of $964.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Pure Storage's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Pure Storage Price Performance

NYSE:PSTG opened at $95.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 231.96, a PEG ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.31. Pure Storage has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $100.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.93, for a total transaction of $230,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,257,266.99. This trade represents a 15.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 9,091 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.91, for a total value of $771,916.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 107,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,115,343.23. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 330,311 shares of company stock valued at $29,728,890 in the last quarter. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,864,918 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $910,589,000 after purchasing an additional 199,831 shares during the period. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the second quarter valued at approximately $204,552,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 90.5% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,831,141 shares of the technology company's stock worth $237,278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345,207 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 8.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,099,364 shares of the technology company's stock worth $175,948,000 after acquiring an additional 161,239 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 109.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,137,939 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,377,000 after acquiring an additional 595,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Pure Storage from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Monday, November 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.61.

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.