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

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 28,210 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 942% compared to the typical volume of 2,706 put options.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in Cameco by 71.5% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Cameco during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cameco by 84.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Cameco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cameco by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cameco Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Cameco stock opened at $51.37 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.28. The firm has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 270.38 and a beta of 0.95. Cameco has a fifty-two week low of $35.43 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.83 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cameco will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend yield of 0.22%. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cameco presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.56.

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.