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

Fluor Co. (NYSE:FLR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,350,000 shares, a growth of 35.6% from the June 30th total of 5,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fluor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fluor by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,112,278 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $723,507,000 after buying an additional 51,322 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fluor by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,480,056 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $57,974,000 after buying an additional 177,907 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fluor by 7.7% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 913,786 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,635,000 after buying an additional 65,275 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fluor by 18.0% during the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 810,700 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $34,276,000 after buying an additional 123,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fluor by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 794,174 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $31,108,000 after buying an additional 53,398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Fluor Stock Performance

FLR opened at $48.18 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $44.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.11. Fluor has a 1 year low of $30.09 and a 1 year high of $51.64. The company has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The construction company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4 billion. Fluor had a net margin of 1.97% and a return on equity of 24.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Fluor will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Fluor from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Fluor from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Fluor from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on Fluor from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Fluor from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.43.

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.