Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $76.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $56.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 42.04% from the stock’s current price.

PSTG has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Lake Street Capital cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.30.

Pure Storage Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $53.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.76, a PEG ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $31.79 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.19 and its 200 day moving average is $56.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.67, for a total transaction of $450,709.65. Following the sale, the executive now owns 94,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,578.82. The trade was a 8.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total transaction of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 500,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,970,000. The trade was a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 354,542 shares of company stock worth $18,599,030. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSTG. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Pure Storage by 210.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,553,402 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $137,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730,123 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Pure Storage by 56.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,873 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Pure Storage by 22.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,063,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $204,163,000 after purchasing an additional 747,034 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Pure Storage by 6.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after purchasing an additional 626,427 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage in the third quarter valued at approximately $20,470,000. 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.