Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Lowers Position in Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. decreased its holdings in shares of Cameco Co. (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) by 88.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 50,054 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Cameco were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cameco by 6.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 617,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,519,000 after purchasing an additional 35,180 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cameco during the 3rd quarter worth $205,000. Centiva Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cameco by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 30,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after acquiring an additional 7,025 shares during the last quarter. Chescapmanager LLC grew its position in Cameco by 2.3% in the third quarter. Chescapmanager LLC now owns 453,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,667,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in Cameco by 18.3% in the third quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 356,289 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,016,000 after acquiring an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. 70.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Cameco from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. National Bank Financial raised Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $63.73 price target on shares of Cameco in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Cameco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Cameco Price Performance

CCJ opened at $59.39 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.04. The firm has a market cap of $25.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 312.60 and a beta of 0.91. Cameco Co. has a 1 year low of $35.43 and a 1 year high of $61.05.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) (TSE:CCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.40). The firm had revenue of $721.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $646.83 million. Cameco had a return on equity of 3.33% and a net margin of 4.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Cameco Co. will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Cameco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a dividend of $0.118 per share. This is a positive change from Cameco’s previous annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a yield of 0.22%. Cameco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.16%.

Cameco Company Profile

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.