Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) by 4.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 760,138 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 33,861 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BOX were worth $24,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BOX. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in BOX in the third quarter worth $36,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of BOX by 324.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,418 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of BOX by 143.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new position in BOX during the second quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in BOX by 245.4% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,536 shares during the period. 86.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BOX Stock Performance

Shares of BOX opened at $32.02 on Thursday. Box, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.28 and a 1 year high of $35.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.45. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03 and a beta of 0.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BOX shares. DA Davidson began coverage on BOX in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised BOX from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on BOX from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BOX in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BOX from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Aaron Levie sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total transaction of $325,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,999,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,592,503.70. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Dylan C. Smith sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.52, for a total transaction of $422,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,474,509 shares in the company, valued at $47,951,032.68. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,178 shares of company stock valued at $2,046,898 in the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BOX Company Profile

Box, Inc provides a cloud content management platform that enables organizations of various sizes to manage and share their content from anywhere on any device. The company's Software-as-a-Service platform enables users to work with their content as they need from secure external collaboration and sharing, workspaces and portals, e-signature processes, and content workflows improving employee productivity and accelerating business processes.