Craig Hallum Upgrades Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) to “Buy”

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Craig Hallum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $39.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $27.00. Craig Hallum’s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.84% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FLEX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Flex from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Flex from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Flex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.40.

Flex Stock Performance

NASDAQ FLEX opened at $32.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Flex has a twelve month low of $21.84 and a twelve month high of $34.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.59.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Flex had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 3.54%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flex will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Flex

In related news, insider Kwang Hooi Tan sold 14,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total value of $418,261.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 163,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,688,744.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Kwang Hooi Tan sold 14,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total value of $418,261.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 163,656 shares in the company, valued at $4,688,744.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Revathi Advaithi sold 161,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.65, for a total value of $4,614,139.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,903,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,532,524.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 804,542 shares of company stock worth $25,147,972. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Flex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FLEX. Twin Tree Management LP boosted its position in shares of Flex by 29,912.0% in the 1st quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 97,239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,782,000 after purchasing an additional 96,915 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of Flex by 106.0% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 146,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,463,000 after acquiring an additional 75,387 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Flex by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 201,902 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,150,000 after acquiring an additional 36,082 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Flex during the first quarter valued at approximately $783,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Flex in the first quarter worth $633,000. Institutional investors own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

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.