The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.27

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%.

Cheesecake Factory has a payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Cheesecake Factory to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $1.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $54.29. 3,093,441 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,378,591. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.88 and a 200 day moving average of $45.18.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. Research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Stephens lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.93.

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.