EVINE Live Inc. (EVLV) Registers Massive Cluster of Insider Buying; Nimble Storage Inc. (NMBL) and Operator of FYE Chain Also Witness Noteworthy Purchases

Although Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE:NMBL) did not witness the abundance of insider buying registered at EVINE Live, the insider trading activity at the provider of a cloud-based data storage platform is still worth investors’ attention. Director William J. Schroeder purchased 40,000 shares Monday through Wednesday at prices that ranged from $6.94 to $7.28 per unit, all of which are held directly by the William J. and Marilee J. Schroeder Revocable Trust. After the recent purchases, the trust fund continues to hold a stake of 160,000 shares. Mr. Schroeder also holds a direct ownership stake of 20,870 shares.

Nimble Storage operates in a highly-competitive market; the storage market has been dominated very large corporations that may hinder the company’s growth prospects in the years ahead. Nimble Storage primarily competes with providers of enterprise storage products such as Dell Inc., EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE), and NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP). Shares of Nimble Storage have plummeted 67% in the past 12 months and are down 20% in 2016 alone. Just recently, a number of financial hubs downgraded the company, following the release of its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2016 that ended January 31. Particularly, the weak guidance for fiscal 2017 was what triggered the wave of downgrades and price target cuts. Analysts at J.P. Morgan downgraded Nimble Storage to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ and slashed the 12-month price target to $8 from $15, citing short-term risk. Similarly, analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ and lowered the price target to $9 from $20, citing extending sales cycles, uncertain technical merits of the all-flash platform, as well as higher operating expenses. Nimble Storage generated fiscal 2016 total revenue of $322.22 million, up from $227.67 million reported for the prior year. The company’s management anticipates total revenue in the range of $83.0-to-$86.0 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The management also expects non-GAAP operating loss in the range of $20.0-to-$22.0 million, which is substantially higher than analysts’ estimates of $12.9 million. A total of 21 hedge funds from our sizable database were invested in Nimble Storage at the end of December 2015, accumulating 12.60% of the company’s shares. Brett Barakett’s Tremblant Capital upped its position in Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE:NMBL) by 63% during the December quarter to 3.45 million shares.

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