Cameco Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 28,210 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 942% compared to the average daily volume of 2,706 put options.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCJ. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cameco during the third quarter valued at about $1,680,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Cameco by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,683 shares during the last quarter. Country Club Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cameco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,093,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Cameco by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,584,822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $75,691,000 after acquiring an additional 515,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Cameco in the first quarter worth $30,000. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cameco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCJ traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,937,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,443,106. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.73 and a 200-day moving average of $48.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 281.95 and a beta of 0.89. Cameco has a 12 month low of $35.43 and a 12 month high of $58.72.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued 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). Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The company had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cameco will post 0.69 earnings per share 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 given a $0.118 dividend. This is a positive change from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCJ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Glj Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $63.73 target price on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $66.56.

Cameco Company Profile

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.