Morgan Stanley Raises Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target to $60.00

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $48.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential downside of 1.90% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Pure Storage from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Pure Storage from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.26.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE PSTG traded up $0.85 on Thursday, hitting $61.16. 916,359 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,165,564. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.26 and a 200 day moving average of $44.44. Pure Storage has a twelve month low of $24.20 and a twelve month high of $62.22. The company has a market capitalization of $19.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 359.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.10. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 2.17%. The firm had revenue of $789.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $784.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Pure Storage’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Pure Storage will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total transaction of $1,981,593.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,150.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 15,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Taylor sold 36,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.76, for a total value of $1,981,593.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,015,150.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 286,581 shares of company stock valued at $15,266,704. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 1.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,793,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,666,781,000 after acquiring an additional 663,465 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,789,480 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,652,735,000 after purchasing an additional 495,183 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 33.8% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 4,068,672 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $144,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,104 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,028,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,664,000 after purchasing an additional 160,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.5% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $121,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,285 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Company Profile

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.