Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Sells $7,863,030.00 in Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $7,863,030.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Pure Storage Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $52.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 307.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.15. Pure Storage, Inc. has a one year low of $22.14 and a one year high of $58.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. LM Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Pure Storage from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Pure Storage in a report on Friday, March 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.53.

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.