Sterling Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Flex Ltd. $FLEX

Sterling Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) by 41.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,170 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,593 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Flex were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FLEX. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Flex during the 1st quarter valued at $210,000. Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new stake in Flex in the 1st quarter worth $441,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Flex in the first quarter valued at about $6,978,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Flex by 34.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,397 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Flex during the first quarter valued at about $842,000. Institutional investors own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flex news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 7,269 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.22, for a total value of $1,055,604.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 245,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,713,954.60. This represents a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.18, for a total value of $5,689,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 584,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,825,480.04. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders sold 769,195 shares of company stock valued at $110,116,823 over the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on Flex from $75.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Flex from $84.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Flex from $75.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Flex from $174.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.70.

Flex Stock Performance

Shares of FLEX opened at $162.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Flex Ltd. has a one year low of $47.83 and a one year high of $166.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.38 billion, a PE ratio of 69.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.64.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter. Flex had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 3.15%.The firm had revenue of $7.48 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that Flex Ltd. will post 4.15 EPS 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.