Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Down 4.4% on Insider Selling

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) was down 4.4% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $49.33 and last traded at $49.52. Approximately 1,159,200 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 4,615,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.82.

Specifically, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 271,295 shares of company stock worth $14,459,604 over the last quarter. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PSTG. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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 upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.63.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 291.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Pure Storage’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Pure Storage by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,073 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 25,839 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.8% in the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Pure Storage by 0.3% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 120,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in Pure Storage by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 17,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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.