Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) Short Interest Down 7.3% in December

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,520,000 shares, a decline of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 16,750,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cameco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cameco during the third quarter worth $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cameco by 84.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Cameco during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Cameco by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Cameco Stock Up 4.3 %

CCJ stock traded up $2.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $51.62. 6,233,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,670,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.88. Cameco has a 1-year low of $35.43 and a 1-year high of $62.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.23. The firm has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 271.69 and a beta of 0.95.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.83 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The company’s revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cameco will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cameco presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.56.

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.