Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Sells $1,526,815.62 in Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 29,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.14, for a total transaction of $1,526,815.62. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 138,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,200,794.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Pure Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $51.83 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.93 and a 200 day moving average of $41.07. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.14 and a 1 year high of $58.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.15.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The business had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSTG. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. LM Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PSTG has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.