Short Interest in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Declines By 23.6%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, a decline of 23.6% from the August 15th total of 10,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PSTG opened at $48.90 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.21. Pure Storage has a 1-year low of $31.00 and a 1-year high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $15.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $911,941.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 518,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,082,961.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.76, for a total transaction of $6,176,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 700,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,232,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $911,941.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 518,623 shares in the company, valued at $33,082,961.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 324,177 shares of company stock worth $18,863,083. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,168,335 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,666,000 after acquiring an additional 28,086 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth $592,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the first quarter worth $1,675,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the first quarter worth $13,514,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, Inc engages in the provision of data storage and management technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. Its Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as always-on data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object.