Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 28,210 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 942% compared to the typical volume of 2,706 put options.

Cameco Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of CCJ opened at $49.20 on Friday. Cameco has a twelve month low of $35.43 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 258.96 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.27.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $721.00 million during 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 for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cameco will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cameco

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Cameco during the second quarter worth about $73,125,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Cameco by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,777,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386,639 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC acquired a new position in shares of Cameco in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,227,000. Segra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cameco during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,013,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cameco by 99.7% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,680,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $80,249,000 after buying an additional 839,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.