Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.10.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James reduced their price target on Pure Storage from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mona Chu sold 20,647 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total transaction of $1,063,320.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 75,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,913,588. This represents a 21.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,970,000. This represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 354,542 shares of company stock valued at $18,599,030 over the last 90 days. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 210.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,553,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $137,628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Pure Storage by 56.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $237,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,163,000 after purchasing an additional 747,034 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after buying an additional 626,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the third quarter worth approximately $20,470,000. 83.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pure Storage Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $62.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $31.79 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.82. The stock has a market cap of $20.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 164.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 1.13.

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.