Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 896 Shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 48,234 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 896 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in BOX were worth $1,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BOX. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of BOX during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BOX by 715.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BOX by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in BOX during the fourth quarter worth approximately $132,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in BOX during the fourth quarter worth approximately $134,000. Institutional investors own 86.74% of the company’s stock.

BOX Stock Performance

Shares of BOX stock opened at $30.35 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.70. The company has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.00. Box, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.63 and a fifty-two week high of $35.74.

BOX announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 4th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at BOX

In related news, CFO Dylan C. Smith sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.05, for a total transaction of $403,650.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,466,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,540,538.20. This trade represents a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 4,791 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.06, for a total value of $148,808.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 132,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,122,935.46. This trade represents a 3.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,363 shares of company stock valued at $2,533,374 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BOX shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BOX from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of BOX in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded BOX from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America started coverage on BOX in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on BOX from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.11.

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.