Scott Dietzen Sells 147,000 Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Scott Dietzen sold 147,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $7,863,030.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $51.83 on Friday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.14 and a 52-week high of $58.46. The stock has a market cap of $16.84 billion, a PE ratio of 304.90, a PEG ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.07.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PSTG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup initiated 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. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.53.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

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

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.