Flex Ltd. $FLEX Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 121,435 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,194 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flex were worth $7,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 196.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,746,330 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,341,053,000 after acquiring an additional 25,662,586 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 38.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,259,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $611,997,000 after acquiring an additional 3,377,669 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Flex by 118.1% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,811,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $162,968,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522,308 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Flex by 80.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,645,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $153,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Flex by 1.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,469,845 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,177,000 after purchasing an additional 26,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLEX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays upped their price target on Flex from $72.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Flex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price target on Flex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 114,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total value of $16,242,993.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 689,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,096,062.14. This represents a 14.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 26,175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total value of $3,726,534.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,452,841.91. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 329,512 shares of company stock valued at $44,459,298 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Flex Trading Up 8.1%

Shares of Flex stock opened at $143.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.48, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.46. Flex Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $41.43 and a fifty-two week high of $147.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $93.62 and a 200 day moving average of $73.73.

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