Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $45.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $41.00 to $45.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $54.65 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.16 and a 200 day moving average of $45.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at $973,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $1,142,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $270,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after acquiring an additional 99,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.