BOX (NYSE:BOX) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $39.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Approximately 3,198,637 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 69% from the previous session’s volume of 1,890,332 shares.The stock last traded at $36.55 and had previously closed at $36.87.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on BOX. DA Davidson set a $45.00 target price on BOX and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on BOX from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised BOX from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised BOX from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BOX has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 5,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.66, for a total transaction of $173,259.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 124,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,822,443.52. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 1,332 shares of BOX stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.01, for a total transaction of $38,641.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 492,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,288,730.45. This trade represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,377 shares of company stock worth $2,060,714 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BOX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in BOX by 115.4% during the 1st 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. raised 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BOX during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BOX in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake 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 worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the period. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BOX Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.30, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.19 and a 200 day moving average of $32.19.

BOX (NYSE:BOX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.05. BOX had a net margin of 13.96% and a negative return on equity of 17.20%. The firm had revenue of $276.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.77 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Box, Inc. will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

BOX declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 4th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.