Traders Buy High Volume of Pure Storage Call Options (NYSE:PSTG)

Key Points

• Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) experienced a significant rise in options trading, with investors buying 6,474 call options—an increase of 158% from the average volume.
• The company's stock rose 29.6% and hit $78.85 during midday trading, accompanied by a high trading volume of 7,905,034 shares.
• Pure Storage reported $0.43 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $861 million, reflecting a 12.7% increase year-over-year.

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 6,474 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof158% compared to the average volume of 2,507 call options.

Pure Storage Trading Up 29.6%

PSTG stock traded up $17.99 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $78.85. The stock had a trading volume of 7,905,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,732,447. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.40. Pure Storage has a 52 week low of $34.51 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 211.99, a P/E/G ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The technology company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $861.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.78 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%.Pure Storage's quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Pure Storage has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.65, for a total transaction of $309,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 75,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,923,592.25. This represents a 7.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 198,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $30,160,000. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 446,794 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,913 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 22.6% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 118,368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,240,000 after purchasing an additional 21,812 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 13.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 275,796 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,209,000 after purchasing an additional 32,611 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Pure Storage by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,339 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,327 shares of the technology company's stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.17.

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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