PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Flex Ltd. by 40.1% during the first quarter, owning a total of 28,532 shares worth approximately $944,000.
• Flex Ltd. reported $0.72 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.63, and generated revenue of $6.58 billion, beating expectations.
• Several analysts have revised their price targets for Flex, with Bank of America and Barclays raising their targets to $58.00 and $60.00 respectively, although KGI Securities downgraded its rating from "strong-buy" to "hold."

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) by 40.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,532 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 8,162 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s holdings in Flex were worth $944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Flex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in Flex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Flex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Flex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Flex by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.30% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 6,887 shares of Flex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.01, for a total transaction of $309,983.87. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 303,718 shares in the company, valued at $13,670,347.18. This trade represents a 2.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 37,465 shares of Flex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.01, for a total transaction of $1,686,299.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,363,312 shares in the company, valued at $61,362,673.12. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 673,186 shares of company stock worth $29,208,462 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Flex Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of FLEX traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $49.44. 3,080,820 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,116,593. The company has a market cap of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05. Flex Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $53.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock's 50-day moving average is $49.25 and its 200-day moving average is $41.38.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.09. Flex had a net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The company had revenue of $6.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on FLEX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Flex from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Flex from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Flex from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, KGI Securities lowered shares of Flex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $53.71.

Flex 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.