Short Interest in Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Declines By 23.6%

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, a drop of 23.6% from the August 15th total of 10,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSTG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Pure Storage from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Lake Street Capital reduced their target price on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Capmk downgraded Pure Storage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Pure Storage in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Pure Storage from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pure Storage

In other Pure Storage news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 900,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider John Colgrove sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.50, for a total value of $5,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 900,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO P. Kevan Krysler sold 14,296 shares of Pure Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total value of $911,941.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 518,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,082,961.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 324,177 shares of company stock worth $18,863,083. 6.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pure Storage

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pure Storage during the 4th quarter worth $115,452,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Pure Storage by 56.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,696,390 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $237,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327,873 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Pure Storage by 4,095.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,121,344 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094,618 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its position in Pure Storage by 835.2% during the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,078,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,458,000 after acquiring an additional 963,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pure Storage by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,294,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,115,955,000 after acquiring an additional 567,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.42% of the company’s stock.

Pure Storage Price Performance

Pure Storage stock opened at $48.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.99. Pure Storage has a 52 week low of $31.00 and a 52 week high of $70.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 174.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $57.26 and a 200-day moving average of $57.21.

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.