Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Underperform” Rating for BOX (NYSE:BOX)

BOX (NYSE:BOX)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $21.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential downside of 31.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BOX from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut BOX from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of BOX in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on BOX in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on BOX in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BOX has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.60.

BOX Price Performance

BOX traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $30.86. 94,272 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,735,889. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.75. BOX has a 12 month low of $24.63 and a 12 month high of $35.74. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.00.

BOX declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 4th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at BOX

In other BOX news, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 12,414 shares of BOX stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.85, for a total value of $395,385.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 453,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,432,700.10. The trade was a 2.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Levie sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.08, for a total value of $320,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,979,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,591,342.40. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 78,363 shares of company stock worth $2,533,374. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BOX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BOX. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BOX by 20.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 382,530 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,520,000 after acquiring an additional 65,185 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BOX by 1,012.4% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 40,003 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 36,407 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of BOX by 7.3% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,813 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BOX during the third quarter worth $1,190,000. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of BOX by 8.9% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 15,542 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.74% of the company’s stock.

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.