North Dakota State Investment Board Takes $794,000 Position in Flex Ltd. $FLEX

Key Points

• North Dakota State Investment Board opened a new position in Flex, buying 13,148 shares valued at about $794,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other investors holding 94.30% of Flex shares. Vanguard also significantly increased its stake, while several other firms added new positions.
• Analysts are broadly bullish on Flex, with multiple firms recently raising price targets sharply; the stock now carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $112.80.

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,148 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 196.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 17.7% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,393,463 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $138,749,000 after acquiring an additional 360,553 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Flex in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,497,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flex in the third quarter valued at about $1,058,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Flex in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,056,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLEX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $72.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $84.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.80.

Insider Activity at Flex

In other Flex news, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 26,175 shares of Flex stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total transaction of $3,726,534.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,452,841.91. The trade was a 9.27% 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, Director Charles K. Stevens III sold 15,000 shares of Flex stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.14, for a total transaction of $2,072,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 45,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,275,147.64. The trade was a 24.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 226,512 shares of company stock valued at $30,720,858 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Flex Stock Performance

Shares of FLEX opened at $131.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $48.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.45, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.72. Flex Ltd. has a 12-month low of $40.15 and a 12-month high of $147.34.

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

Flex Profile

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.

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