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

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 384,705 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,490% compared to the average volume of 24,198 call options.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCJ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Cameco during the 2nd quarter valued at $73,125,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Cameco by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,777,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386,639 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC bought a new position in Cameco in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,227,000. Segra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Cameco in the 3rd quarter worth about $53,013,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Cameco by 99.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,680,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $80,249,000 after purchasing an additional 839,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on CCJ shares. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 target price on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Cameco Stock Performance

NYSE:CCJ opened at $61.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 321.32 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.25. Cameco has a twelve month low of $35.43 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last announced its 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 net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 3.33%. The business had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Cameco will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.118 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. Cameco’s payout ratio is 57.89%.

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.