Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on FLEX. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Flex from $203.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research cut Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial set a $170.00 price target on Flex and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $142.00 price target on Flex in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Flex from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.20.

Flex Stock Down 1.4%

FLEX stock opened at $113.04 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $114.87 and its 200 day moving average is $114.48. The stock has a market cap of $41.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Flex has a 1-year low of $53.07 and a 1-year high of $166.86.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 26th. The technology company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Flex had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 23.15%. The business had revenue of $7.93 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Flex will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.64, for a total transaction of $332,363.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 243,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,336,632. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Flex

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLEX. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Flex by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,605,802 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,829,000 after acquiring an additional 181,266 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Flex during the 4th quarter valued at $319,756,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its holdings in Flex by 141.8% in the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 3,693,141 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $223,140,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,780 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Flex by 52.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,230,622 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $146,016,000 after purchasing an additional 764,558 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Flex by 541.5% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,965,811 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $128,682,000 after buying an additional 1,659,384 shares during the period. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Flex

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) is a global manufacturing and supply-chain solutions company that helps original equipment manufacturers design, build and manage products. Its services span product design and engineering, prototyping, manufacturing, assembly, testing, logistics, supply-chain management and aftermarket support.

The company supports customers across industries including automotive, communications, consumer, industrial, healthcare and life sciences, and cloud and data-center infrastructure.