Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has significantly reduced its holdings in Box, Inc. by 80.1% in the first quarter, owning only 7,090 shares after selling 28,480 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Cerity Partners LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have increased their positions in Box, indicating strong interest from major investors.
• Analysts remain positive about Box, with multiple firms raising price targets; UBS upgraded its rating to "strong-buy" and set a price target of $40.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX - Free Report) by 80.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,090 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 28,480 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in BOX were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BOX. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 115.4% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 825 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in shares of BOX by 332.5% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 865 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BOX during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of BOX by 519.4% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,951 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of BOX by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,194 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BOX

In other BOX news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total transaction of $500,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,952,030 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 2,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $64,416.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 530,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,961,920. This represents a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 94,504 shares of company stock valued at $3,363,371. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BOX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of BOX from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of BOX in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BOX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $45.00 target price on shares of BOX and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.50.

BOX Stock Up 2.3%

NYSE:BOX traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.78. 511,616 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,896,237. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59 and a beta of 0.96. Box, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.46 and a 52 week high of $38.80. The firm's 50 day moving average is $33.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.67.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $274.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Box, Inc. will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

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.