The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.9412.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Northcoast Research cut shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $75.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $43.07 and a twelve month high of $77.02. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.26 and its 200 day moving average is $59.03.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $978.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $964.57 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total transaction of $161,601.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $400,497.90. This represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $6,346,080.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,079,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,928,114.58. This trade represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% in the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.