Cameco Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ - Get Free Report) TSE: CCO was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 384,705 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,490% compared to the typical volume of 24,198 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Cameco by 10.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,918 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Cameco by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Cameco by 39.0% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in Cameco by 11.4% in the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 1,222,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $60,137,000 after purchasing an additional 125,000 shares during the period. Finally, Dantai Capital Ltd grew its position in shares of Cameco by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 39,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,953,000 after buying an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Cameco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Cameco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cameco presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.56.

Cameco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CCJ traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $52.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,551,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,394,743. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.49 and a 200-day moving average of $49.33. The company has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 276.01 and a beta of 0.91. Cameco has a 12-month low of $35.43 and a 12-month high of $62.55.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ - Get Free Report) TSE: CCO last released 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 return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. Cameco's revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cameco will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $0.118 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is an increase from Cameco's previous annual dividend of $0.09. 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.