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

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)’s share price 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.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upgraded Pure Storage from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $56.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Pure Storage from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other news, CAO Mona Chu sold 8,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $516,611.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 67,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,207,050.96. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $1,229,875.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 262,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock worth $8,871,746. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pure Storage

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Pure Storage by 0.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,153,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,469,487,000 after buying an additional 368,643 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,443,732 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,054,448,000 after acquiring an additional 615,931 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Pure Storage by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,262,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $515,596,000 after acquiring an additional 626,427 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Pure Storage by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,207,162 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $442,736,000 after acquiring an additional 401,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Pure Storage by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,748,553 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,458 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Down 15.1 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.58, 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.