Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $55.14, but opened at $51.58. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Pure Storage shares last traded at $51.82, with a volume of 708,441 shares trading hands.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PSTG. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 872 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total transaction of $44,916.72. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 89,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,602,470.01. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 owns 801,959 shares in the company, valued at $41,709,887.59. This trade represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 107,849 shares of company stock worth $5,531,346. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 9.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 316,911 shares of the technology company's stock worth $15,921,000 after acquiring an additional 27,345 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Pure Storage by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 64,692 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,974,000 after acquiring an additional 24,232 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at about $296,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Pure Storage by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,634 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Pure Storage by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 39,523 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,428,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.82, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.40 and a 200 day moving average of $55.92.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $778.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.03 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 16.06% and a net margin of 4.22%. Pure Storage's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS 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.