Investors Buy Large Volume of Cameco Call Options (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 384,705 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,490% compared to the typical volume of 24,198 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $63.73 price target on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cameco

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in Cameco by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cameco in the first quarter worth $26,000. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cameco during the third quarter worth $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cameco by 84.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cameco by 130.6% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. 70.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cameco Trading Up 5.5 %

CCJ opened at $60.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.44 billion, a PE ratio of 310.23 and a beta of 0.89. Cameco has a one year low of $35.43 and a one year high of $60.98.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.40). The business had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cameco will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.118 per share. This represents a yield of 0.22%. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is 47.37%.

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.