Earnest Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

Earnest Partners LLC cut its stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,992,649 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 60,611 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 1.04% of Flex worth $153,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Flex by 42.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 774,856 shares of the technology company's stock worth $25,902,000 after acquiring an additional 231,572 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Flex in the third quarter worth about $75,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Flex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $703,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Flex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,047,021 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $202,152,000 after acquiring an additional 296,505 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Flex by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,895 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the period. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Flex

In related news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 64,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 233,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,249,456.14. This represents a 21.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lay Koon Tan sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $8,773,262.50. This trade represents a 19.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Flex Price Performance

FLEX stock traded up $1.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.84. 1,545,540 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,939,346. Flex Ltd. has a 52 week low of $25.11 and a 52 week high of $45.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.41.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FLEX. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Flex in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Flex from $52.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of 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 target on shares of Flex from $53.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.67.

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.