Brokerages Set The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) PT at $49.40

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.40.

Several brokerages recently commented on CAKE. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company’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 owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,593 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,191,000 after buying an additional 60,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 435,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,103,000 after buying an additional 28,962 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE opened at $48.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.59. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $31.24 and a 12-month high of $52.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a PEG 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 (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

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.