Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wedbush Analyst Says

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price upped by Wedbush from $52.00 to $59.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.75.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of CAKE opened at $48.06 on Thursday. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $30.96 and a 12-month high of $50.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.91 and its 200 day moving average is $39.47.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This trade represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,881 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,478,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at $121,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 5.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.