Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Stock Price

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Citigroup from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.84% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Friday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Pure Storage from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.21.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of PSTG stock opened at $59.40 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $55.97 and a 200 day moving average of $54.05. Pure Storage has a 1-year low of $34.51 and a 1-year high of $73.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 160.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.07.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pure Storage had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 3.93%. The firm had revenue of $778.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Pure Storage will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 6,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.17, for a total value of $390,887.03. Following the sale, the director owned 19,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,886.02. This represents a 26.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 22,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.45, for a total transaction of $1,253,225.45. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 261,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,498,234.25. This represents a 7.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 446,794 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,913 over the last 90 days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Pure Storage by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 4.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,790 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 40.0% during the second quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Pure Storage by 49.0% in the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 611 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GraniteShares Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC now owns 8,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 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.