Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG)

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $75.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PSTG. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $53.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 139.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage has a fifty-two week low of $40.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.67.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $479,611,127.10. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $516,611.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,207,050.96. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 9,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its holdings in Pure Storage by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,775 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 13,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 67,232 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,130,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.