Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 12,290,000 shares, an increase of 74.8% from the September 15th total of 7,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on FLEX. Craig Hallum upgraded Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut Flex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Flex from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Flex from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Flex from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.40.

Flex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FLEX traded up $1.08 on Friday, reaching $35.11. 2,748,301 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,268,536. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.09. Flex has a fifty-two week low of $21.84 and a fifty-two week high of $35.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.09. Flex had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $6.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.89 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flex will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Flex

In related news, EVP David Scott Offer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.99, for a total transaction of $319,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 168,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,377,327.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Flex news, insider Kwang Hooi Tan sold 8,028 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.78, for a total value of $255,129.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 175,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,576,373.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David Scott Offer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.99, for a total transaction of $319,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,377,327.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,028 shares of company stock worth $904,530 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Flex by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,168,208 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $548,519,000 after purchasing an additional 10,201,162 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Flex by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,978,522 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $235,289,000 after purchasing an additional 127,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flex by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,971,083 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,833,000 after purchasing an additional 141,580 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Flex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $72,808,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Flex by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,055,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,592,000 after purchasing an additional 157,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.30% of the company’s stock.

Flex Company Profile

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.