First Trust Advisors LP Trims Stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in shares of Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) by 89.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,827 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 157,429 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Flex were worth $723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,484,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Flex by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,394,821 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620,812 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Flex by 210.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,957,477 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,298 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Flex by 13,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,238,019 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Flex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,513,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $326,833,000 after purchasing an additional 916,085 shares during the period. 94.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flex Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FLEX opened at $38.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.96. Flex Ltd. has a 12-month low of $25.11 and a 12-month high of $45.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.44.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. Flex had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 3.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flex

In other news, Director Lay Koon Tan sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total value of $2,162,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 202,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,773,262.50. This trade represents a 19.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Scott Offer sold 87,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.43, for a total value of $3,172,797.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,586,566.43. This trade represents a 55.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Flex in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Flex from $52.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Flex from $46.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Flex from $53.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

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.