ABN Amro Investment Solutions Takes Position in Flex Ltd. $FLEX

ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 20,497 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,342,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flex during the fourth quarter worth about $260,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Flex by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,279,137 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,314,000 after purchasing an additional 211,046 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Flex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $397,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Flex by 63.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,646 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Flex by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 62,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 29,821 shares in the last quarter. 94.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays raised their target price on Flex from $174.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Zacks Research cut Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. KeyCorp increased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Flex from $75.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 8,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.19, for a total transaction of $1,303,951.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 248,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,086,393.74. This represents a 3.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 39,188 shares of Flex stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.18, for a total transaction of $5,689,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 584,278 shares in the company, valued at $84,825,480.04. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 769,195 shares of company stock valued at $110,116,823. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Flex Trading Down 7.4%

Shares of Flex stock opened at $118.51 on Friday. Flex Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $47.83 and a fifty-two week high of $166.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.96.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $7.48 billion during the quarter. Flex had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 3.15%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Flex

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.