Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 33,861 Shares of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX - Free Report) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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. owned approximately 0.53% of BOX worth $24,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of BOX by 8.5% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 7,960,924 shares of the software maker's stock worth $210,487,000 after acquiring an additional 620,450 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BOX by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,623,032 shares of the software maker's stock worth $184,042,000 after buying an additional 69,107 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of BOX by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,249,823 shares of the software maker's stock worth $106,387,000 after purchasing an additional 13,028 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in BOX by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,078,857 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $81,405,000 after purchasing an additional 125,435 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in BOX by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,564,668 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,809,000 after purchasing an additional 229,314 shares in the last quarter. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of BOX in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of BOX in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of BOX from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of BOX in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on BOX in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.89.

BOX Stock Performance

BOX stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $32.16. 626,538 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,999,457. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20 and a beta of 0.86. Box, Inc. has a one year low of $24.28 and a one year high of $35.74.

Insider Activity at BOX

In related news, VP Eli Berkovitch sold 4,792 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.46, for a total transaction of $155,548.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 140,172 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,983.12. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dylan C. Smith sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.52, for a total value of $422,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,474,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,951,032.68. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 62,178 shares of company stock worth $2,046,898. Insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

About BOX

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.