The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Up 5.5% in October

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,900,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the September 30th total of 5,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 979,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 12.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $45.82 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.49. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $29.27 and a fifty-two week high of $49.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.50.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.66% and a net margin of 3.63%. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 8.2% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter worth $345,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 77,660 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after buying an additional 4,053 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.