Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 22,526 Shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 801,576 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 22,526 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.56% of BOX worth $24,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BOX by 3.4% in the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 27,504 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in BOX by 11.2% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,281 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 3.4% during the first quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 536,707 shares of the software maker's stock worth $16,563,000 after purchasing an additional 17,697 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BOX during the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of BOX by 88.3% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 26,291 shares of the software maker's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 12,330 shares in the last quarter. 86.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BOX Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of BOX stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $33.75. 1,434,491 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,959,701. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $33.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16 and a beta of 0.90. Box, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.63 and a 12 month high of $38.80.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share 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 business 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. BOX's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Box, Inc. will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on BOX. DA Davidson set a $45.00 price objective on shares of BOX and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued a "positive" rating on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BOX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on BOX from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of BOX in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.50.

Insider Activity at BOX

In other BOX news, CFO Dylan C. Smith sold 13,000 shares of BOX stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.52, for a total value of $409,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,520,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,927,736. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bethany Mayer sold 5,123 shares of BOX stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total transaction of $174,489.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,573.04. This represents a 25.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,177 shares of company stock valued at $3,426,835 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

BOX 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.