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

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 384,705 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,490% compared to the average volume of 24,198 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CCJ shares. Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cameco

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCJ. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Cameco by 15.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Cameco by 1.7% during the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 62,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA grew its position in shares of Cameco by 11.1% during the second quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 5,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cameco in the second quarter worth about $238,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in Cameco by 69.6% during the second quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 345,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,982,000 after buying an additional 141,655 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Cameco Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Cameco stock opened at $61.13 on Friday. Cameco has a 12-month low of $35.43 and a 12-month high of $61.42. The company has a market cap of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 321.73 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.20.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.40). The company had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.83 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The business’s revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a $0.118 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is an increase from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.16%.

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.