BOX (NYSE:BOX) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

BOX (NYSE:BOX) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of BOX from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued a “positive” rating on shares of BOX in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BOX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on BOX from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

BOX Price Performance

NYSE:BOX opened at $33.99 on Friday. BOX has a one year low of $24.63 and a one year high of $38.80. The company has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.47.

BOX (NYSE:BOX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.05. BOX had a net margin of 21.38% and a negative return on equity of 20.17%. The firm had revenue of $276.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that BOX will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

BOX declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 4th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at BOX

In other news, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 1,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $49,744.47. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 554,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,761,747.26. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 5,924 shares of BOX stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $223,334.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 138,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,231,629. The trade was a 4.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 95,386 shares of company stock valued at $3,290,987. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in BOX in the 4th quarter valued at $289,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of BOX by 420.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,067 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 24,286 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BOX in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,418,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of BOX by 8,676.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 127,606 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,135,000 after purchasing an additional 126,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new position in BOX during the first quarter worth about $387,000. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BOX

Box, Inc engages in the provision of an enterprise content platform that enables organizations to securely manage enterprise content while allowing easy, secure access and sharing of this content from anywhere, on any device. Its products include cloud content management, IT and admin controls, Box Governance, Box Zones, Box Relay, Box Shuttle, and Box KeySafe.