Fluor Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:FLR)

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 21,245 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 309% compared to the average daily volume of 5,194 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FLR shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Fluor from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Fluor from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Fluor from $58.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W lowered shares of Fluor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Fluor from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.43.

Fluor Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FLR traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.03. 2,252,084 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,087,616. The firm has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Fluor has a 1 year low of $35.04 and a 1 year high of $60.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.22.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.30). Fluor had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.42 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Fluor will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Thomas P. D’agostino sold 7,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total transaction of $433,131.59. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 137,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,780,353.86. The trade was a 5.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark E. Fields sold 50,000 shares of Fluor stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total transaction of $2,831,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 147,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,327,158.35. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Fluor by 2,509.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 548 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fluor by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 616 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fluor in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fluor by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 955 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fluor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

About Fluor

Fluor Corporation provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); fabrication and modularization; operation and maintenance; asset integrity; and project management services worldwide. The company operates through Energy Solutions, Urban Solutions, Mission Solutions, and Other segments. The Energy Solutions segment provides solutions to the energy transition markets, including asset decarbonization, carbon capture, renewable fuels, waste-to-energy, green chemicals, hydrogen, nuclear power, and other low-carbon energy sources.