Insider Selling: Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Insider Sells 100,000 Shares of Stock

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at $53,550,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Pure Storage Stock Down 4.8 %

PSTG stock opened at $58.30 on Thursday. Pure Storage, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.00 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The company has a market cap of $18.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 208.21, a P/E/G ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $63.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.33.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Pure Storage had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $693.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $681.37 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PSTG. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. UBS Group lowered shares of Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Pure Storage from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pure Storage during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Pure Storage by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 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.