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

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cameco

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCJ. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cameco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cameco by 71.5% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cameco during the third quarter worth $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Cameco during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 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.com, Cameco has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Cameco Price Performance

Shares of CCJ opened at $50.22 on Friday. Cameco has a twelve month low of $35.43 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The firm has a market cap of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 264.32 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.33. 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 (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. Cameco’s revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Cameco will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.118 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a yield of 0.22%. Cameco’s payout ratio is currently 63.16%.

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.