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

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.00.

Several research firms have commented on CAKE. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $91.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, EVP Scarlett May sold 7,978 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.66, for a total value of $819,021.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,872,621.06. The trade was a 30.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.50, for a total transaction of $212,642.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,714. This represents a 33.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 179,331 shares of company stock valued at $18,413,065 in the last 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 503,184 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,401,000 after purchasing an additional 33,959 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter valued at $1,111,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 127.7% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 60,513 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,055,000 after buying an additional 33,936 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter worth $719,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 131,591 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,643,000 after buying an additional 36,800 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $107.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.08, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.00. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $43.07 and a fifty-two week high of $107.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.49.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $999.54 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.97% and a net margin of 4.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.