Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price Down 1.2%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s share price fell 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $51.81 and last traded at $51.82. 521,510 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 4,460,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PSTG. Citigroup began coverage on Pure Storage in a research note on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut Pure Storage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.11. The company has a market capitalization of $16.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 1.14.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Pure Storage’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total value of $807,100.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total value of $807,100.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 507,824 shares in the company, valued at $26,813,107.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.14, for a total value of $1,526,815.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,200,794.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 1.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,793,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,666,781,000 after buying an additional 663,465 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,115,955,000 after buying an additional 567,358 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its position in Pure Storage by 33.8% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $144,926,000 after buying an additional 1,028,104 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Pure Storage by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,028,716 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,664,000 after buying an additional 160,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Pure Storage by 61.5% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,285 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.