Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for BOX (NYSE:BOX) Stock Price

BOX (NYSE:BOX) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $33.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 33.66% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of BOX in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group cut their target price on BOX from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup decreased their target price on BOX from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BOX has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.57.

BOX Stock Performance

Shares of BOX traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $24.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,194,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,772,042. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.51. BOX has a 52-week low of $21.61 and a 52-week high of $38.80.

BOX (NYSE:BOX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The software maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $305.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $305.64 million. BOX had a net margin of 9.80% and a negative return on equity of 23.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BOX will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BOX

In other news, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 5,163 shares of BOX stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total value of $154,683.48. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 123,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,705,572.64. The trade was a 4.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Olivia Nottebohm sold 4,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.78, for a total value of $118,897.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 465,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,993,345.82. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 52,999 shares of company stock valued at $1,454,739 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BOX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BOX. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BOX by 15.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 560,329 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $19,146,000 after purchasing an additional 73,896 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in BOX by 84.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 39,251 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after buying an additional 17,950 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BOX by 38.1% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 955,286 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,637,000 after buying an additional 263,619 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in BOX in the 3rd quarter valued at $20,851,000. Finally, Trek Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of BOX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,276,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.74% of the company’s stock.

About BOX

Box, Inc is a leading provider of cloud content management and file sharing solutions designed to support enterprises in securely managing, accessing and collaborating on digital content from anywhere. The company offers a unified platform that enables organizations to store, share and automate workflows across various departments, enhancing productivity and ensuring governance over sensitive information. Box’s services are tailored to meet the needs of industries such as healthcare, financial services, government and media, where compliance and data security are paramount.

The core offerings of Box include its Content Cloud platform, which provides content collaboration, workflow automation, data classification and secure file sharing.