UBS Group Upgrades BOX (NYSE:BOX) to Strong-Buy

UBS Group upgraded shares of BOX (NYSE:BOX - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $40.00 price objective on the software maker's stock, up from their prior price objective of $37.00.

BOX has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson cut their target price on BOX from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BOX from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of BOX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of BOX in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of BOX in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.50.

BOX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BOX traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.84. The stock had a trading volume of 3,948,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,912,573. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.16. BOX has a twelve month low of $24.63 and a twelve month high of $37.95. The firm has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 47.30, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.94.

BOX (NYSE:BOX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.05. BOX had a negative return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $276.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that BOX will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BOX

In other BOX news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.08, for a total transaction of $320,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,979,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,591,342.40. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 5,651 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.66, for a total transaction of $173,259.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 124,672 shares in the company, valued at $3,822,443.52. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,377 shares of company stock worth $2,060,714. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its position in BOX by 115.4% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 825 shares of the software maker's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in BOX by 332.5% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 865 shares of the software maker's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BOX during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BOX in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 519.4% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,951 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.