Investors Buy High Volume of Cameco Put Options (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 28,210 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 942% compared to the typical volume of 2,706 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CCJ. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Cameco in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Cameco in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Cameco from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Glj Research increased their price target on shares of Cameco from $62.76 to $75.68 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $70.03.

Cameco Price Performance

Shares of Cameco stock opened at $37.80 on Friday. Cameco has a fifty-two week low of $35.43 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. 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 company has a market cap of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 134.98 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.25.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. The company had revenue of $845.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Cameco had a return on equity of 4.34% and a net margin of 5.39%. Analysts expect that Cameco will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cameco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCJ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cameco in the 4th quarter valued at $188,595,000. FMR LLC raised its position in Cameco by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,639,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,163,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,876 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cameco by 120.2% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,245,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $115,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,966 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Cameco by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,088,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $518,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cameco by 54.2% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 3,393,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.