Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 93,653 Flex Ltd. $FLEX

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management disclosed a new stake in Flex Ltd., buying 93,653 shares valued at about $5.66 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership in Flex remains very high at 94.30%, with major holders like Vanguard and State Street also significantly increasing their positions recently.
• Analysts are broadly constructive on Flex, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a consensus target price of $112.80, while several firms recently raised their price targets sharply.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 93,653 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $5,659,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 196.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,746,330 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,341,053,000 after purchasing an additional 25,662,586 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,259,554 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $611,997,000 after purchasing an additional 3,377,669 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 118.1% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,811,248 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $162,968,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522,308 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,645,745 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $153,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,469,845 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $143,177,000 after purchasing an additional 26,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FLEX shares. Raymond James Financial set a $80.00 target price on Flex and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Flex from $84.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Flex from $75.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Flex currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.80.

Flex Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ FLEX opened at $132.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Flex Ltd. has a twelve month low of $40.15 and a twelve month high of $147.34. The company has a market cap of $48.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.46. The business's fifty day moving average is $90.64 and its 200 day moving average is $72.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Flex

In related news, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 26,175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was 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 directly owned 256,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,452,841.91. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 114,090 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.37, for a total value of $16,242,993.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 689,022 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $98,096,062.14. This represents a 14.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 226,512 shares of company stock worth $30,720,858 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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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