BOX (NYSE:BOX) Stock Price Up 3.7% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Shares of Box jumped 3.7% on Friday to about $24.75 on below-average volume, with a market cap near $3.53 billion and the 50-day moving average (~$24.95) still below the 200-day (~$29.21).
• Box beat EPS expectations with $0.49 versus a $0.33 consensus and revenue of $305.88M (up 9.4% YoY), and its board approved a $500 million share buyback program representing roughly 14.2% of outstanding shares.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed—an average rating of "Hold" with a $35.57 target (4 Buy / 4 Hold / 1 Sell)—while insiders have recently sold shares and institutional ownership stands at about 86.74%.

Shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) rose 3.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $24.72 and last traded at $24.7460. Approximately 1,701,358 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 2,710,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BOX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of BOX from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of BOX in a research report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of BOX from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of BOX in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BOX from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BOX presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.57.

BOX Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.21.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The software maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.16. BOX had a net margin of 9.80% and a negative return on equity of 23.61%. The firm had revenue of $305.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $305.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Box, Inc. will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BOX declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 19th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software maker to purchase up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $370,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,907,030 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $71,861,781.60. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 4,612 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.78, for a total value of $118,897.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 465,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,993,345.82. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 79,836 shares of company stock worth $2,091,096. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of BOX by 283.2% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 99,652 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 73,645 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in BOX by 76.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 681,785 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $20,392,000 after buying an additional 294,954 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in BOX during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its stake in BOX by 294.9% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 449,973 shares of the software maker's stock worth $13,459,000 after buying an additional 336,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Numerai GP LLC raised its stake in BOX by 152.4% in the fourth quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 46,524 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,392,000 after buying an additional 28,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.74% of the company's stock.

BOX Company Profile

Box, Inc is a leading provider of cloud content management and file sharing solutions designed to support enterprises in securely managing, accessing and collaborating on digital content from anywhere. The company offers a unified platform that enables organizations to store, share and automate workflows across various departments, enhancing productivity and ensuring governance over sensitive information. Box's services are tailored to meet the needs of industries such as healthcare, financial services, government and media, where compliance and data security are paramount.

The core offerings of Box include its Content Cloud platform, which provides content collaboration, workflow automation, data classification and secure file sharing.

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