Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG - Free Report) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $75.00 price target on the technology company's stock.

PSTG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Pure Storage from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pure Storage currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $73.20.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Shares of Pure Storage stock traded down $2.97 on Thursday, hitting $49.50. 4,067,337 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,638,176. The company has a market capitalization of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.09. Pure Storage has a one year low of $44.76 and a one year high of $73.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.55, for a total value of $6,555,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,316,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,611,127.10. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total value of $1,229,875.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 262,144 shares in the company, valued at $16,142,827.52. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,178 shares of company stock valued at $8,871,746 in the last ninety days. 6.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pure Storage

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Pure Storage by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 10,915 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,626 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,289,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pure Storage in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. Ascent Group LLC purchased a new stake in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter worth about $310,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Pure Storage by 135.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 131,027 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,049,000 after acquiring an additional 75,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.