Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $35.95, but opened at $36.79. Flex shares last traded at $36.48, with a volume of 237,171 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLEX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Flex in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Flex from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Flex Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.30. 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 firm has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.07.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.07. Flex had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 17.93%. As a group, analysts forecast that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Flex

In other news, Director Lay Koon Tan sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total value of $2,162,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 202,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,773,262.50. This represents a 19.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 64,807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.89, for a total value of $2,844,379.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 233,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,249,456.14. This represents a 21.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flex

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Flex during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Flex during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Flex by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Flex during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Flex by 87.9% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,024 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

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.