Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Lowered to Outperform at Raymond James

Raymond James lowered shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James currently has $63.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $52.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PSTG. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $51.63.

Pure Storage Price Performance

PSTG stock opened at $49.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.02 and a 200-day moving average of $41.17. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $58.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 290.96, a PEG ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.15.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Pure Storage had a net margin of 2.17% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company had revenue of $789.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total transaction of $807,100.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.80, for a total transaction of $807,100.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,813,107.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 37,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.54, for a total transaction of $2,012,461.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 380,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,389,852.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Pure Storage by 5.4% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 22,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth about $521,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth about $458,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth about $1,675,000. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System bought a new position in Pure Storage in the first quarter worth about $3,790,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.