Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Fluor (NYSE:FLR)

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 10,734 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 152% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,256 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Fluor from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Fluor from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Fluor in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Baird R W downgraded Fluor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised Fluor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Thomas P. D’agostino sold 7,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total transaction of $433,131.59. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 137,974 shares in the company, valued at $7,780,353.86. This represents a 5.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark E. Fields sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total value of $2,831,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 147,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,327,158.35. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,300 shares of company stock valued at $3,849,067 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aequim Alternative Investments LP increased its stake in Fluor by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aequim Alternative Investments LP now owns 742,760 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,437,000 after buying an additional 41,800 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fluor by 139.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 17,174 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 9,992 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fluor by 63.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 570,368 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $24,771,000 after purchasing an additional 222,070 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fluor by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,097,931 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $100,092,000 after purchasing an additional 457,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fluor by 67.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 49,152 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after buying an additional 19,836 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fluor Stock Performance

NYSE:FLR opened at $49.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.08 and a 200-day moving average of $49.55. Fluor has a twelve month low of $35.04 and a twelve month high of $60.10. The firm has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.89.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The construction company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. Fluor had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Fluor’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. Analysts forecast that Fluor will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fluor Company Profile

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.