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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cameco

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cameco by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 22,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cameco by 1,138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 267,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,774,000 after buying an additional 245,831 shares during the last quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cameco by 44.2% during the third quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 57,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 17,560 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Cameco by 12.2% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 128,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,120,000 after purchasing an additional 13,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Cameco by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 25,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Cameco Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE CCJ opened at $53.12 on Friday. Cameco has a 1 year low of $35.43 and a 1 year high of $62.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $23.12 billion, a PE ratio of 279.59 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.96 and a 200 day moving average of $49.27.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued 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 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Cameco will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

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

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.