Morgan Stanley Boosts Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target to $40.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 26.61% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CAKE traded up $0.21 on Thursday, reaching $54.50. The stock had a trading volume of 992,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,366,328. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.96 and a 200 day moving average of $45.25. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. On average, research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,238,000 after purchasing an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,008,000 after buying an additional 155,614 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,114,000. 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.