Swiss National Bank Raises Position in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ - Free Report) TSE: CCO by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,314,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 11,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.30% of Cameco worth $62,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cameco by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,911,954 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $689,306,000 after acquiring an additional 200,871 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Cameco by 1.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 215,741 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Cameco by 3.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,514,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,210,000 after buying an additional 202,157 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cameco by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,160,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $204,672,000 after purchasing an additional 265,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cameco by 4.7% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,915,086 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $192,622,000 after acquiring an additional 176,183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CCJ. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cameco from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Cameco to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. National Bank Financial upgraded Cameco to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Glj Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $63.73 target price on shares of Cameco in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $66.56.

Cameco Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE CCJ traded up $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.61. 4,407,084 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,456,165. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $50.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.47. Cameco Co. has a 12-month low of $35.43 and a 12-month high of $58.75. The firm has a market cap of $25.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 303.63 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ - Get Free Report) TSE: CCO last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.40). The firm had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.83 million. Cameco had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 3.33%. The business's revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cameco Co. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This is an increase from Cameco's previous annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a yield of 0.22%. Cameco's payout ratio is currently 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.