Wall Street Zen Downgrades BOX (NYSE:BOX) to Hold

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BOX. DA Davidson set a $45.00 price target on BOX and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group raised BOX from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated 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 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of BOX from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.50.

BOX Price Performance

Shares of BOX stock traded down $0.72 on Friday, hitting $32.98. 1,351,567 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,943,437. The company's fifty day moving average is $33.65 and its 200 day moving average is $32.49. BOX has a 1-year low of $24.63 and a 1-year high of $38.80. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.54 and a beta of 0.90.

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 5,123 shares of BOX stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total transaction of $174,489.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,573.04. This trade represents a 25.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 5,924 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total value of $223,334.80. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 138,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,231,629. This represents a 4.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,509 shares of company stock valued at $3,465,476 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BOX

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BOX by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 55,180 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,744,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 420.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 857,498 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,097,000 after purchasing an additional 692,784 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BOX by 715.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in BOX in the 4th quarter worth about $132,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in BOX in the 4th quarter worth about $134,000. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BOX Company Profile

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.