Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,830,000 shares, a growth of 20.5% from the August 31st total of 5,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO John C. Regan sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.31, for a total value of $628,030.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 55,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,703,669.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Fluor news, CFO Joseph L. Brennan sold 15,335 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total transaction of $729,485.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,834 shares in the company, valued at $2,751,163.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO John C. Regan sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.31, for a total transaction of $628,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 55,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,703,669.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,630 shares of company stock valued at $1,371,528. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fluor

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Fluor by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,112,278 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $723,507,000 after purchasing an additional 51,322 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in Fluor by 23.6% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,214,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $139,992,000 after purchasing an additional 614,521 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Fluor by 14.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,547,243 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $110,930,000 after purchasing an additional 323,111 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fluor in the second quarter worth about $47,559,000. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Fluor by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,052,106 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $45,819,000 after buying an additional 18,535 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Fluor from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Fluor from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fluor from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Fluor from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Fluor from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fluor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Fluor Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Fluor stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Monday, hitting $47.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,455,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,537,361. Fluor has a 52 week low of $32.31 and a 52 week high of $51.64. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The construction company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.34 billion. Fluor had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 25.02%. Fluor’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fluor will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current year.

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.