AE Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

Key Points

• AE Wealth Management LLC has acquired a new position in Flex Ltd., buying 7,040 shares valued at approximately $233,000 in the first quarter.
• Flex Ltd. reported earnings per share of $0.72 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.63, with revenues reaching $6.58 billion.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Flex, with Barclays and KeyCorp both setting new targets of $60.00 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.

AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,040 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FLEX. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 6.2% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 96,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,196,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Flex during the first quarter valued at approximately $8,109,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Flex during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,246,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 2.1% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,268,639 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $75,059,000 after buying an additional 46,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 63.9% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flex Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ FLEX traded down $0.35 on Friday, hitting $49.52. 3,793,913 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,046,755. Flex Ltd. has a 52-week low of $25.11 and a 52-week high of $53.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.05. The company's 50-day moving average price is $47.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.99.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.09. Flex had a net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Flex

In other news, EVP David Scott Offer sold 35,394 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.87, for a total transaction of $1,517,340.78. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 140,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,002,357.31. The trade was a 20.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 35,393 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.87, for a total transaction of $1,517,297.91. Following the transaction, the insider owned 293,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,569,269.65. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,061,348 shares of company stock valued at $45,038,292. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KGI Securities cut Flex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Flex from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Flex from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.71.

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.