Who Are The Major Shareholders In Box Inc (NYSE:BOX)?

In this article, I will take a quick look at Box Inc’s (NYSE:BOX) recent ownership structure – an unconventional investing subject, but an important one. The impact of a company's ownership structure affects both its short- and long-term performance. Differences in ownership structure of companies can have a profound effect on how management's incentives are aligned with shareholder returns, and whether they adhere to corporate governance best practices. Although this is an important factor for long-term investors, many investors can also be impacted by institutional presence and their high-volume trading. Now I will analyze BOX's shareholder registry in more detail.

Check out our latest analysis for Box

Institutional Ownership

With an institutional ownership of 82.54%, BOX can face volatile stock price movements if institutions execute block trades on the open market, more so, when there are relatively small amounts of shares available on the market to trade Although BOX has a high institutional ownership, such stock moves, in the short-term, are more commonly linked to a particular type of active institutional investors – hedge funds. In the case of BOX, investors need not worry about such volatility considering active hedge funds don't have a significant stake. However, we should dig deeper into BOX's ownership structure and find out how other key ownership classes can affect its investment profile.

Insider Ownership

I find insiders are an important group of stakeholders, who are directly involved in making key decisions related to the use of capital. In essence, insider ownership is more about the alignment of shareholders' interests with the management. BOX insiders are also influential stakeholders with 5.08% ownership in the company. An insider stake of this level indicates that executives are highly aligned with the shareholders as both stand to gain when the value of the company rises. However, it would be interesting to take a look at their buying and selling activities lately. Buying may be sign of upbeat future expectations, but selling doesn't necessarily mean the opposite as the insiders may be motivated by financial needs or they are simply diversifying their risk.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a substantial 11.83% stake in BOX, making it a highly popular stock among retail investors. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power in deciding on major policy decisions such as executive compensation, appointment of directors and acquisitions of businesses.

Private Company Ownership

Another important group of owners for potential investors in BOX are private companies that hold a stake of 0.56% in BOX. These are companies that are mainly invested due to their strategic interests or are incentivized by reaping capital gains on investments their shareholdings. However, an ownership of this size may be relatively insignificant, meaning that these shareholders may not have the potential to influence BOX's business strategy. Thus, investors not need worry too much about the consequences of these holdings.

Next Steps:

BOX's considerably high level of institutional ownership calls for further analysis into its margin of safety. This is to avoid getting trapped in a sustained sell-off that is often observed in stocks with this level of institutional participation. However, ownership structure should not be the only determining factor when you’re building an investment thesis for BOX. Rather, you should be examining fundamental factors such as Box's past track record and financial health. I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for BOX’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for BOX’s outlook.
2. Past Track Record: Has BOX been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of BOX's historicals for more clarity.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.