Flex Ltd. $FLEX Holdings Increased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) by 40.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,733 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,025 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Flex were worth $4,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FLEX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 196.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,746,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,341,053,000 after purchasing an additional 25,662,586 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,756,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Flex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,497,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 173,277 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,469,000 after purchasing an additional 19,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 340,389 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,566,000 after purchasing an additional 130,641 shares in the last quarter. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 26,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total transaction of $3,726,534.75. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,452,841.91. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 22,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.38, for a total transaction of $3,163,114.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 232,706 shares in the company, valued at $33,132,680.28. The trade was a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 345,012 shares of company stock valued at $48,508,103 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLEX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 target price on shares of Flex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.70.

Flex Stock Performance

Flex stock opened at $150.83 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.53. The company has a market cap of $55.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Flex Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $42.83 and a fifty-two week high of $166.86.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $7.48 billion for the quarter. Flex had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

About Flex

Flex (NASDAQ: FLEX), formerly known as Flextronics, is a global provider of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original design manufacturing (ODM). The company offers end-to-end product lifecycle solutions including product design and engineering, prototyping, volume manufacturing, testing, and aftermarket services. Its offerings extend into supply chain management, component sourcing, logistics and distribution, and advanced manufacturing capabilities such as automation and digital manufacturing to support customers from concept through end-of-life.

Flex serves a broad range of industries, including automotive, healthcare, industrial, communications, and consumer electronics, working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology companies to accelerate time to market and manage complex supply chains.