BOX (NYSE:BOX) Hits New 52-Week High After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $36.66 and last traded at $36.62, with a volume of 4248739 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.45.

The software maker reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $274.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. BOX’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their price target on BOX from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded BOX from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on BOX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on BOX from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BOX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BOX news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.08, for a total transaction of $320,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,979,780 shares in the company, valued at $95,591,342.40. This trade represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.01, for a total value of $38,641.32. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 492,545 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold 66,377 shares of company stock worth $2,060,714 over the last three months. 3.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BOX. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of BOX by 115.4% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 825 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 332.5% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 865 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BOX in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BOX in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 519.4% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,951 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.74% of the company’s stock.

BOX Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.78 and a 200-day moving average of $32.11.

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.