Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,860,000 shares, a decrease of 7.4% from the October 15th total of 19,290,000 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cameco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCJ. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Cameco by 172.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 817,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,021,000 after buying an additional 517,035 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cameco by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,911,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $91,558,000 after acquiring an additional 177,551 shares during the period. Segra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cameco during the third quarter worth approximately $53,013,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 31.5% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 13,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $662,000 after acquiring an additional 3,322 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Cameco by 108,100.0% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 31,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 31,349 shares during the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cameco Stock Performance

NYSE CCJ opened at $57.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 302.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.41. Cameco has a 1 year low of $35.43 and a 1 year high of $58.72.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.40). Cameco had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cameco will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CCJ. National Bank Financial raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Glj Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 target price on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cameco has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.