Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $150.40.

CCJ has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cameco from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Glj Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $171.20 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Cameco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research lowered Cameco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $147.00 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $131.00 target price on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Cameco Stock Performance

Shares of CCJ stock opened at $112.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.47. Cameco has a 52 week low of $35.00 and a 52 week high of $135.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.75. The company has a market capitalization of $49.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.00 and a beta of 1.02.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.07. Cameco had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 9.35%. The company had revenue of $874.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Cameco will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cameco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cameco in the fourth quarter valued at $443,265,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Cameco by 116.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,622,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $388,068,000 after buying an additional 2,489,207 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Cameco by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 7,076,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $524,988,000 after buying an additional 2,071,373 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Cameco by 7,481.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,752,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $160,343,000 after buying an additional 1,729,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,443,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644,061 shares in the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cameco

Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ) is a leading producer of uranium and a supplier to the global nuclear power industry. Headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, the company is engaged in the exploration, mining, milling and sale of uranium concentrate, commonly known as yellowcake, which is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. Cameco also participates in services and activities that support the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, including processing and marketing of uranium to utilities under long‑term and spot contracts.

The company’s operations have historically centered in Canada and the United States, where it operates and develops uranium mining and processing properties.