The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives $46.08 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.93.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $50.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $31.24 and a 1 year high of $52.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after buying an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after buying an additional 223,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated operates and licenses restaurants in the United States and Canada. The company operates bakeries that produce cheesecakes and other baked products for its restaurants, international licensees, third-party bakery customers, external foodservice operators, retailers, and distributors.