Flex Ltd. $FLEX Holdings Boosted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 820,557 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,329 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Flex worth $53,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Flex by 196.1% during 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 during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Flex by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,055,533 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $849,235,000 after buying an additional 2,126,440 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Flex by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,605,802 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,829,000 after buying an additional 181,266 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Flex in the fourth quarter valued at $319,756,000. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Flex by 141.8% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 3,693,141 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,140,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,780 shares during the period. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Flex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Flex from $84.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research cut Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.70.

Insider Activity at Flex

In related news, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 197,879 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.32, for a total transaction of $28,557,897.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,978,613.12. The trade was a 24.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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. Also, EVP David Scott Offer sold 33,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.91, for a total value of $5,079,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 73,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,307,921.61. This trade represents a 30.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 769,195 shares of company stock worth $110,116,823 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Flex Stock Performance

FLEX stock opened at $119.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.18, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.78. Flex Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $47.83 and a fifty-two week high of $166.86. 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 (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter. Flex had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $7.48 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 4.15 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.