Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) Short Interest Update

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,140,000 shares, a growth of 18.5% from the March 15th total of 9,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael P. Hartung sold 64,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.89, for a total value of $2,844,379.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,526 shares in the company, valued at $10,249,456.14. This represents a 21.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lay Koon Tan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.25, for a total transaction of $2,162,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 202,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,773,262.50. This trade represents a 19.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Flex by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 26,114,574 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,006,436,000 after purchasing an additional 569,916 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Flex by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,298,896 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $472,155,000 after purchasing an additional 817,215 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Flex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,513,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $326,833,000 after purchasing an additional 916,085 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Flex by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,408,070 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $246,006,000 after buying an additional 361,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flex during the 4th quarter valued at $229,484,000. 94.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flex Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of FLEX traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $30.53. 2,280,327 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,968,739. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.99 and a 200-day moving average of $37.41. Flex has a 1-year low of $25.11 and a 1-year high of $45.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.07. Flex had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 17.93%. Analysts expect that Flex will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FLEX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Flex from $53.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on Flex from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Flex in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Flex from $52.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $43.67.

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.