Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $62.44, but opened at $55.18. Pure Storage shares last traded at $53.82, with a volume of 1,419,197 shares trading hands.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $59.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total transaction of $6,555,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,611,127.10. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,142,827.52. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746 over the last ninety days. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSTG. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Pure Storage by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 144,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,235,000 after buying an additional 14,659 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1,160.1% in the third quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 73,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,671,000 after acquiring an additional 67,285 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 0.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,469,487,000 after acquiring an additional 368,643 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management boosted its position in Pure Storage by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 187,874 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 68,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC purchased a new position in Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at about $264,000. 83.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pure Storage Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.21. The stock has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 137.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09.

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.