The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives $49.40 Average Target Price from Analysts

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.40.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $48.89 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.43. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $31.24 and a 12 month high of $52.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 valued at $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the period. JCP Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at $5,149,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after buying an additional 99,341 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.