Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PSTG. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $88.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $93.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Tigress Financial set a $105.00 target price on Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Pure Storage from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Pure Storage from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.26.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $70.37 on Friday. Pure Storage has a one year low of $34.51 and a one year high of $100.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of 185.18, a PEG ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 1.28.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The technology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 10.60%. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.59, for a total transaction of $9,159,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,159,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 6,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.42, for a total transaction of $528,978.42. Following the transaction, the executive owned 62,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,486,391.78. The trade was a 8.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 327,311 shares of company stock worth $29,498,100. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 118,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,240,000 after acquiring an additional 21,812 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter valued at about $287,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 6.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,461,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,701,000 after purchasing an additional 85,851 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Pure Storage by 0.3% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 607,469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter worth about $129,000. 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.