Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $40.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.6 %

CAKE stock opened at $54.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.53. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. Analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $63,114,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,288,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,062,000 after purchasing an additional 673,076 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,827,000. Finally, JCP Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC now owns 667,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,652,000 after purchasing an additional 430,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.