Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $65.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on CAKE. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $49.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $31.24 and a twelve month high of $52.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.36.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at about $317,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at about $628,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.