Verus Capital Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ)

Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) by 8.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Cameco were worth $840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cameco by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,911,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $689,306,000 after purchasing an additional 200,871 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Cameco by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,708,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $593,524,000 after buying an additional 215,741 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,514,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,210,000 after buying an additional 202,157 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 6.8% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,160,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,672,000 after acquiring an additional 265,196 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cameco by 4.7% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,915,086 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $192,622,000 after acquiring an additional 176,183 shares during the period. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cameco Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of Cameco stock opened at $54.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 3.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.49 and a 200 day moving average of $48.20. The company has a market capitalization of $23.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 286.42 and a beta of 0.89. Cameco Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.43 and a fifty-two week high of $58.72.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last posted 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 business had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cameco Co. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a $0.118 dividend. This is an increase from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s payout ratio is currently 57.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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