Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,520,000 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 16,750,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCJ. Dantai Capital Ltd lifted its position in Cameco by 44.2% in the third quarter. Dantai Capital Ltd now owns 57,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 17,560 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cameco during the third quarter worth about $5,305,000. Telemark Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 1,300,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,088,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cameco by 1,138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 267,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,774,000 after purchasing an additional 245,831 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new position in Cameco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,680,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded 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 given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.56.

Cameco Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of CCJ traded up $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.62. The stock had a trading volume of 6,233,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.23. The company has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 271.69 and a beta of 0.95. Cameco has a 1-year low of $35.43 and a 1-year high of $62.55.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $721.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Cameco will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.118 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a yield of 0.22%. This is a boost from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.16%.

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.