Insider Selling: Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Sells 29,283 Shares of Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive now owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at $7,200,794.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Pure Storage Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE PSTG traded down $0.49 on Thursday, hitting $51.83. 2,106,615 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,664,215. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.14 and a 52-week high of $58.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 308.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.00.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Pure Storage during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. LM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.