Citigroup Cuts Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target to $67.00

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Citigroup from $75.00 to $67.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.27% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PSTG. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Pure Storage from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Pure Storage from $64.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

Pure Storage Stock Down 13.3 %

Shares of PSTG stock traded down $7.93 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $51.83. The stock had a trading volume of 6,730,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,874,791. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $31.00 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 189.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $763.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $756.59 million. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 3.19%. On average, analysts predict that Pure Storage will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 9,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total value of $586,140.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 115,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,451.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 9,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total transaction of $586,140.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 115,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,857,451.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total transaction of $5,239,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,912,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 328,995 shares of company stock valued at $19,175,193. 6.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in shares of Pure Storage during the first quarter worth $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 424 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

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.