National Pension Service Purchases Shares of 621,457 Flex Ltd. $FLEX

National Pension Service purchased a new stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 621,457 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,548,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FLEX. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Flex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of Flex by 238.3% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 504 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Flex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Flex in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on FLEX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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 upgraded shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Flex from $72.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David Scott Offer sold 22,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.40, for a total transaction of $3,162,988.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 74,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,669,462.40. This trade represents a 22.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Kwang Hooi Tan sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total transaction of $2,378,775.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 238,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,425,149.99. The trade was a 6.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 329,512 shares of company stock valued at $44,459,298 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Flex Price Performance

NASDAQ FLEX opened at $150.65 on Monday. Flex Ltd. has a 12 month low of $41.43 and a 12 month high of $154.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a PE ratio of 64.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.50.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last issued its 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 net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flex Ltd. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flex Profile

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.