Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Stake in Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its position in shares of Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,672,589 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 85,232 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.22% of Flex worth $179,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FLEX. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flex by 219.2% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 133,349 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,119,000 after purchasing an additional 91,571 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Flex by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 57,220 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,197,000 after buying an additional 4,832 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,484,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Flex by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 13,568 shares of the technology company's stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Flex by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,408,070 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $246,006,000 after acquiring an additional 361,049 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLEX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Flex in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Flex from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Flex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flex has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flex

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

Flex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FLEX traded down $2.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.68. 13,280,787 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,919,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Flex Ltd. has a 52-week low of $25.11 and a 52-week high of $45.10. The company has a market cap of $10.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.83 and a 200 day moving average of $37.62.

Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.07. Flex had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 17.93%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flex Ltd. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

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.