Cameco Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 384,705 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,490% compared to the typical volume of 24,198 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on CCJ shares. President Capital upgraded Cameco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Cameco in a report on Monday, November 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cameco in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Cameco to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.74 price objective on shares of Cameco in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cameco in the second quarter worth about $341,736,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cameco by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 14,048,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $578,226,000 after buying an additional 3,959,837 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Cameco by 116.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,622,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $388,068,000 after buying an additional 2,489,207 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Cameco by 41.4% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 7,076,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $524,988,000 after buying an additional 2,071,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Cameco by 43.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,443,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $456,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644,061 shares in the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cameco Stock Performance

Shares of CCJ opened at $87.58 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.13 billion, a PE ratio of 101.84 and a beta of 1.07. Cameco has a one year low of $35.00 and a one year high of $110.15.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $313.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $531.72 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 15.24%.The firm’s revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a dividend yield of 27.0%. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.12. Cameco’s payout ratio is currently 19.77%.

About Cameco

Cameco Corporation provides uranium for the generation of electricity. It operates through Uranium, Fuel Services, Westinghouse segments. The Uranium segment is involved in the exploration for, mining, and milling, purchase, and sale of uranium concentrate. The Fuel Services segment engages in the refining, conversion, and fabrication of uranium concentrate, as well as the purchase and sale of conversion services.