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

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 28,210 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 942% compared to the typical volume of 2,706 put options.

Cameco Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CCJ opened at $57.81 on Friday. Cameco has a 1-year low of $35.43 and a 1-year high of $60.98. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $53.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 304.28 and a beta of 0.89.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.40). The company had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. Cameco had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 3.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cameco will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a $0.118 dividend. This is an increase from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cameco

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Cameco by 15.5% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,683 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Cameco during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Beck Bode LLC increased its holdings in Cameco by 11.2% during the first quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 46,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,022,000 after buying an additional 4,689 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Cameco by 22.4% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 124,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,338,000 after buying an additional 22,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hamilton Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Cameco by 76.3% during the first quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 8,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 3,886 shares during the period. 70.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCJ. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $63.73 price target on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.