Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Here’s Why

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) shares dropped 0.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $49.55 and last traded at $51.37. Approximately 5,200,832 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 27% from the average daily volume of 4,097,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cameco has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $66.56.

Cameco Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $21.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 258.96 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.27. 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 released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The business had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cameco Co. will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.118 dividend. 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. This represents a dividend yield of 0.22%. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is 63.16%.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 265,196 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cameco by 4.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 176,183 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake 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 worth $181,382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386,639 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in Cameco by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,478,488 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $118,386,000 after acquiring an additional 410,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Progeny 3 Inc. lifted its stake in Cameco by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 2,268,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $108,326,000 after acquiring an additional 159,200 shares in the last quarter. 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.