Cameco Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 28,210 put options on the company. This is an increase of 942% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,706 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cameco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CCJ. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 37.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,068,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $497,555,000 after acquiring an additional 4,644,453 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Cameco by 2.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 454,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,223,000 after purchasing an additional 9,757 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Cameco by 6.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Cameco by 10.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 554,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,138,000 after purchasing an additional 52,341 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC acquired a new stake in Cameco in the first quarter worth about $819,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Cameco from C$50.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Cameco from C$51.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock an “action list buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Cameco in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Cameco from $49.50 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Cameco from C$50.00 to C$49.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cameco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.20.

Cameco Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CCJ opened at $36.84 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Cameco has a 12-month low of $21.02 and a 12-month high of $37.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.64. The firm has a market cap of $15.96 billion, a PE ratio of 245.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.00.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.17). Cameco had a net margin of 4.67% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.37 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Cameco

Cameco Corporation provides uranium for the generation of electricity. It operates through two segments, Uranium and Fuel Services. 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.