Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCJ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Cameco from $59.00 to $60.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Glj Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. 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 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE CCJ opened at $56.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.58. Cameco has a 52 week low of $35.43 and a 52 week high of $57.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.33 and a beta of 0.90.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $598.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $756.00 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 5.63% and a net margin of 9.72%. Cameco’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCJ. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Cameco by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 75,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,280,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Silvia Mccoll Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 3.9% in the third quarter. Silvia Mccoll Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Cameco by 1.7% in the third quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 13,689 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Cameco by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in shares of Cameco by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

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.