Zacks Research Upgrades BOX (NYSE:BOX) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• BOX has been upgraded to a Strong-Buy rating by Zacks Research, reflecting improved investor sentiment.
• Analysts are showing increased confidence, with several firms raising their price targets for BOX, including UBS Group increasing it from $40 to $42.
• Despite positive earnings performance, insider trading activities indicate some directors have been selling shares, with total insider sales amounting to over $1.76 million in the last 90 days.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson set a $45.00 target price on BOX and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup upped their target price on BOX from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded BOX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BOX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.00.

BOX Price Performance

BOX traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $32.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,830,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,946,574. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03 and a beta of 0.95. BOX has a one year low of $28.00 and a one year high of $38.80.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 26th. The software maker reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $294.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.19 million. BOX had a negative return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. BOX has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.260-1.28 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BOX will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BOX news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $500,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,952,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,450,200.50. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bethany Mayer sold 5,123 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total value of $174,489.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $520,573.04. This represents a 25.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,081 shares of company stock worth $1,762,323. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BOX

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in BOX by 10.7% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,247,092 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $145,123,000 after purchasing an additional 410,191 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in BOX by 36.4% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,137,447 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $141,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,314 shares during the last quarter. RGM Capital LLC raised its position in BOX by 9.3% in the first quarter. RGM Capital LLC now owns 3,749,773 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $115,718,000 after purchasing an additional 318,459 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BOX by 1.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,346,923 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $114,379,000 after buying an additional 32,884 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of BOX by 2.2% in the second quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,886,750 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $64,470,000 after buying an additional 40,681 shares during the period. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.