Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Given “Outperform” Rating at William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note published on Thursday morning,RTT News reports.

PSTG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Lake Street Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.15.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PSTG traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $47.76. The stock had a trading volume of 913,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,670,611. The company has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage has a 1 year low of $31.00 and a 1 year high of $70.41.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 4.53%. Research analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 94,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,578.82. This represents a 8.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total value of $4,994,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 500,000 shares in the company, valued at $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 454,542 shares of company stock valued at $24,775,030 over the last three months. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, City State Bank raised its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 175.0% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.