Morgan Stanley Increases Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Price Target to $72.00

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) had its target price lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $62.00 to $72.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.83% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Pure Storage from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.70.

Pure Storage Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:PSTG opened at $66.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.68 billion, a PE ratio of 174.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Pure Storage has a 12-month low of $34.32 and a 12-month high of $70.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total value of $4,994,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,970,000. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mona Chu sold 25,000 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.32, for a total transaction of $1,258,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,639 shares in the company, valued at $4,862,874.48. This trade represents a 20.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 462,853 shares of company stock worth $25,670,642. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PSTG. FMR LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 626,427 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in Pure Storage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 5,684,218 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $285,575,000 after purchasing an additional 177,559 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pure Storage by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $269,798,000 after buying an additional 219,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Pure Storage by 22.5% during 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 in the last quarter. 83.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.