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

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 7,949 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 43% compared to the average daily volume of 5,548 call options.

Fluor Trading Down 2.9%

FLR stock traded down $1.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $48.37. 3,679,954 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,250,930. The business's 50 day moving average price is $37.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.02. Fluor has a 52-week low of $29.20 and a 52-week high of $60.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.30.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The construction company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.23. Fluor had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 13.14%. The business had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fluor will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fluor

In other news, insider Alvin C. Collins III sold 18,920 shares of Fluor stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.43, for a total transaction of $859,535.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,924,919.69. This trade represents a 22.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fluor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Fluor by 329.5% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,986,095 shares of the construction company's stock worth $97,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,647 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fluor by 4,097.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,332,307 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $47,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,568 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fluor by 43.4% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,646,837 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $130,630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,350 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Fluor by 10,125.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,056,946 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $52,129,000 after buying an additional 1,046,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fluor by 145.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,625,776 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $57,276,000 after buying an additional 962,382 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FLR shares. Barclays set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fluor and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fluor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Fluor from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Fluor from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Fluor from $54.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fluor has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.43.

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.