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

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 14,595 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 202% compared to the typical volume of 4,838 call options.

Institutional Trading of Fluor

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fluor by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,698,120 shares of the construction company's stock worth $872,871,000 after purchasing an additional 168,822 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fluor by 43.4% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,646,837 shares of the construction company's stock worth $130,630,000 after buying an additional 1,104,350 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Fluor by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,093,998 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $152,596,000 after buying an additional 107,327 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Fluor by 21.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,066,704 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $109,847,000 after acquiring an additional 550,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenhouse Funds LLLP raised its position in shares of Fluor by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Greenhouse Funds LLLP now owns 2,467,385 shares of the construction company's stock worth $88,382,000 after acquiring an additional 29,404 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fluor Trading Up 6.8%

Shares of FLR stock traded up $2.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.12. 2,606,647 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,300,226. The stock has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a PE ratio of 3.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $35.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Fluor has a 12 month low of $29.20 and a 12 month high of $60.10.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The construction company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $4.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Fluor's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fluor will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FLR. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Fluor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Fluor from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $41.00 target price on shares of Fluor in a research note on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Fluor from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays set a $40.00 price objective on Fluor and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.

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