Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $53.80, but opened at $50.53. Flex shares last traded at $50.71, with a volume of 3,615,094 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLEX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Flex in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America raised 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Flex from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Flex from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.71.

Flex Stock Performance

The company's 50-day simple moving average is $47.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.07.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.72 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Flex's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Flex

In related news, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 181,028 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.91, for a total value of $7,767,911.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,463,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at $62,807,152.45. This trade represents a 11.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 35,393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.87, for a total value of $1,517,297.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 293,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,569,269.65. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,135,941 shares of company stock valued at $47,582,965 over the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Flex in the 4th quarter worth about $229,484,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 55.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,363,106 shares of the technology company's stock worth $276,652,000 after purchasing an additional 2,968,285 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,825,667 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in Flex by 13,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,238,019 shares of the technology company's stock worth $47,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Flex by 73.6% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,777,753 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $91,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177,970 shares during the last quarter. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.