Fluor Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:FLR)

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 4,733 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 70% compared to the average daily volume of 2,785 call options.

Institutional Trading of Fluor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLR. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Fluor by 46.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,134 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fluor by 2,324.5% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fluor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fluor by 665.0% in the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,836 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fluor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. 99.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fluor Price Performance

Shares of FLR stock traded up $1.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.26. 2,829,090 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,721,707. Fluor has a 12 month low of $23.37 and a 12 month high of $38.69. The company has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -96.45 and a beta of 2.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The construction company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.33. Fluor had a negative net margin of 0.10% and a positive return on equity of 15.03%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. Fluor’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fluor will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FLR. TheStreet raised shares of Fluor from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Friday, August 11th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price target on shares of Fluor from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Fluor from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Fluor from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Fluor in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fluor presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.14.

About Fluor

Fluor Corporation provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); fabrication and modularization; operation and maintenance; asset integrity; and project management services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Energy Solutions, Urban Solutions, Mission Solutions, and Other. 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.