Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FLEX. Craig Hallum downgraded Flex from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their target price for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Flex from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Flex from $29.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Flex from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flex has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.83.

Flex Trading Up 0.4 %

Flex stock opened at $29.49 on Wednesday. Flex has a one year low of $21.84 and a one year high of $34.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.49 and its 200 day moving average is $28.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Flex had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 16.46%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Flex will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kwang Hooi Tan sold 14,599 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total value of $418,261.35. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 163,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,688,744.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Paul Lundstrom sold 35,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total value of $1,023,750.45. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 507,752 shares in the company, valued at $14,547,094.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kwang Hooi Tan sold 14,599 shares of Flex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total transaction of $418,261.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 163,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,688,744.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 804,542 shares of company stock valued at $25,147,972 over the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners boosted its position in Flex by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,168,208 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $548,519,000 after acquiring an additional 10,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Flex by 290.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 35,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 26,162 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Flex by 79.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 126,202 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 55,910 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of Flex by 0.8% during the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 279,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,002,000 after buying an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Flex in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,399,000. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Flex

Flex Ltd. provides technology, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Flex Agility Solutions (FAS), Flex Reliability Solutions (FRS), and Nextracker. The FAS segment offers flexible supply and manufacturing system comprising communications, enterprise and cloud solution, which includes data, edge, and communications infrastructure; lifestyle solution including appliances, consumer packaging, floorcare, micro mobility, and audio; and consumer devices, such as mobile and high velocity consumer devices.