Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Short Interest Down 22.4% in February

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) saw a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,160,000 shares, a decrease of 22.4% from the February 13th total of 11,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PSTG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Pure Storage from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Pure Storage from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Pure Storage from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Pure Storage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Dan Fitzsimons sold 8,895 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total transaction of $570,258.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 72,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,675,349.97. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ajay Singh sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pure Storage in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pure Storage by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Stock Up 1.5 %

PSTG stock traded up $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.61. The company had a trading volume of 177,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,020,907. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.33. Pure Storage has a 12 month low of $44.76 and a 12 month high of $73.67. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.29, a PEG 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.