The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,610,000 shares, a drop of 5.4% from the August 15th total of 5,930,000 shares. Currently, 11.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 950,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.08.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE opened at $38.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.21. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $28.58 and a fifty-two week high of $41.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.50.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 49.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 48.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 276.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,000. 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.