Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Downgraded by StockNews.com

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG – Get Rating) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PSTG. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. TD Cowen cut their price target on Pure Storage from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Barclays lowered their target price on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Pure Storage from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pure Storage currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.68.

Pure Storage Trading Up 1.4 %

PSTG opened at $24.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 117.76, a P/E/G ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.66. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $21.90 and a 12-month high of $36.71.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.17. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 17.48%. The firm had revenue of $810.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $811.30 million. As a group, analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 27,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $748,993.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 480,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,011,286.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 10,918 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.62, for a total transaction of $301,555.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 119,217 shares in the company, valued at $3,292,773.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 27,679 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $748,993.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 480,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,011,286.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,170 shares of company stock worth $1,605,075 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ellevest Inc. raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 50.4% in the third quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 994 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 17,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 15.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 64,801 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. 84.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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Pure Storage, Inc engages in the provision of flash-based storage solutions. Its technology replaces storage systems designed for mechanical disks with all-flash systems optimized end-to-end for solid-state memory. The company was founded by John Hayes and John Colgrove in October 2009 and is headquartered in Mountain View, CA.