Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) by 1,138.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 267,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 245,831 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Cameco worth $12,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted 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 valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cameco in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cameco by 68.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cameco during the 1st quarter worth approximately $87,000. 70.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CCJ. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cameco from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Glj Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $63.73 price objective on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Cameco Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CCJ opened at $53.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 282.05 and a beta of 0.89. Cameco Co. has a 1 year low of $35.43 and a 1 year high of $58.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.33.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. Cameco’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cameco Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.118 per share. This represents a yield of 0.22%. This is an increase from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is 57.89%.

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.