J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Sells 160,841 Shares of Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its stake in Flex Ltd. by 12.6%, now holding $36.80 million worth of Flex shares.
• Flex's stock price recently reached $49.52, with a market cap of $18.59 billion and a P/E ratio of 21.72.
• Analysts have varying ratings on Flex, with several firms increasing their target prices to as high as $60.00 while maintaining a general "buy" rating.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG cut its holdings in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,112,323 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 160,841 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG owned approximately 0.29% of Flex worth $36,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Flex by 3,794.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,900,133 shares of the technology company's stock worth $95,936,000 after buying an additional 2,825,667 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Flex by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,394,821 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $207,107,000 after buying an additional 1,620,812 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in Flex by 13,790.0% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,238,019 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,528,000 after buying an additional 1,229,106 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Flex by 89.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,499,749 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $95,965,000 after buying an additional 1,177,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Flex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,470,000. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FLEX. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Flex from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Flex in a report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 35,393 shares of Flex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.87, for a total transaction of $1,517,297.91. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 293,195 shares in the company, valued at $12,569,269.65. The trade was a 10.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 37,533 shares of Flex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.87, for a total value of $1,609,039.71. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 269,151 shares in the company, valued at $11,538,503.37. The trade was a 12.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,061,348 shares of company stock valued at $45,038,292 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Flex Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ FLEX traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,793,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,046,755. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $47.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.98. Flex Ltd. has a twelve month low of $25.11 and a twelve month high of $53.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.05.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Flex's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Flex Company Profile

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.