Cameco Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 384,705 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,490% compared to the average daily volume of 24,198 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCJ. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 700.2% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 46,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after buying an additional 40,442 shares during the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 10.4% during the third quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 282,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,472,000 after buying an additional 26,584 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 1,138.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 267,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,774,000 after buying an additional 245,831 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cameco during the third quarter valued at about $1,832,000. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 8.9% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 1,432 shares during the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CCJ. Glj Research lifted their target price on shares of Cameco from $62.76 to $75.68 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cameco from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Cameco in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $73.64.

Cameco Trading Down 2.0 %

CCJ opened at $41.75 on Friday. Cameco has a 1-year low of $35.43 and a 1-year high of $62.55. 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 company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.91.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.26. The firm had revenue of $845.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Cameco had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 4.34%. Analysts predict that Cameco will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.