Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,600,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the October 31st total of 6,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FLR. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Fluor from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised Fluor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Fluor from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Fluor from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Fluor from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.29.

Fluor Stock Performance

NYSE FLR opened at $56.07 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $52.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.17. Fluor has a 12-month low of $35.04 and a 12-month high of $60.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fluor news, CFO Joseph L. Brennan sold 15,335 shares of Fluor stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total transaction of $729,485.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,751,163.38. The trade was a 20.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark E. Fields sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total value of $2,831,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 147,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,327,158.35. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,261 shares of company stock valued at $4,360,074 in the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fluor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Fluor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Fluor by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 899 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Fluor by 6,642.9% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 944 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Fluor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Fluor in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

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.