Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) Stock Price Down 1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) traded down 1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $51.86 and last traded at $52.62. 1,257,148 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 4,371,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCJ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $66.56.

Cameco Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a PE ratio of 276.65 and a beta of 0.91.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.40). Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The company had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.83 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cameco Co. will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.118 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.22%. This is a positive change from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s payout ratio is presently 57.89%.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCJ. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $204,672,000 after acquiring an additional 265,196 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $192,622,000 after purchasing an additional 176,183 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Cameco by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,777,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $181,382,000 after buying an additional 1,386,639 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in Cameco by 3.7% in 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 buying an additional 117,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake 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 worth $129,540,000 after buying an additional 381,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

About Cameco

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.