Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Price Target Raised to $52.00

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target for Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) from $45.00 to $52.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.88% from its previous close and maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Flex's latest earnings report exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $0.72 and revenue of $6.58 billion for the quarter, showing a 4.1% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
• Several other analysts increased their price targets as well, with KeyCorp setting a target of $60.00 and an overall consensus rating of "Buy" from eight research analysts.
• Insider trading reports indicate that executives sold substantial shares recently, with a total of 1,135,941 shares sold in the last 90 days.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $45.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price objective would indicate a potential upside of 4.02% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FLEX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Flex from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Flex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Flex in a report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Flex from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Flex from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flex has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $53.71.

Flex Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ FLEX traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $49.99. 3,961,468 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,286,389. The company has a market cap of $18.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07. Flex has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $53.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.06 and a 200-day moving average of $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.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 8,509 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.01, for a total value of $382,990.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 276,136 shares in the company, valued at $12,428,881.36. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Scott Offer sold 6,887 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.01, for a total transaction of $309,983.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 148,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,690,421.43. This trade represents a 4.43% 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 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flex

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Flex during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Flex in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Flex in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Flex in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Flex in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.30% of the company's stock.

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.