Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.56.

CCJ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. National Bank Financial raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCJ. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cameco by 6.8% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,160,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $204,672,000 after buying an additional 265,196 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cameco by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,915,086 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $192,622,000 after acquiring an additional 176,183 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Cameco by 58.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,777,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386,639 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cameco by 3.7% during the second quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 3,272,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,022,000 after purchasing an additional 117,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Cameco by 16.9% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,634,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $129,540,000 after purchasing an additional 381,176 shares during the period. 70.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cameco Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:CCJ opened at $57.81 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.81. The company has a market cap of $25.16 billion, a PE ratio of 304.28 and a beta of 0.89. Cameco has a one year low of $35.43 and a one year high of $60.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last posted 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). Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The firm had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a $0.118 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is a positive change from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.37%.

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.