Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $57.56, but opened at $55.50. Pure Storage shares last traded at $53.87, with a volume of 745,412 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PSTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Pure Storage from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target (down from $68.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.05.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $17.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.95.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 17.41%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total transaction of $5,239,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,912,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Pure Storage news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total value of $450,709.65. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 94,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,578.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total transaction of $5,239,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,912,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 554,542 shares of company stock worth $30,014,030. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,789,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,652,735,000 after acquiring an additional 495,183 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $237,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,357,962 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $151,405,000 after purchasing an additional 15,747 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,234,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,470,000 after purchasing an additional 249,761 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,303,863 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,728,000 after purchasing an additional 235,356 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.