Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Break Below 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $107.81 and traded as low as $106.42. Cheesecake Factory shares last traded at $106.76, with a volume of 1,129,662 shares trading hands.

Key Stories Impacting Cheesecake Factory

Here are the key news stories impacting Cheesecake Factory this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks characterized CAKE as a strong momentum stock, a potentially supportive signal for trend-focused investors. The article does not point to a new company announcement or change in fundamentals. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discuss election results in districts with Cheesecake Factory locations, along with a political joke and references to the restaurant at an election-night event. These stories appear to use the chain as a cultural or geographic reference, not report changes to CAKE’s business. Article about election results in Cheesecake Factory districts Article about political coverage involving Cheesecake Factory

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Argus increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $72.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $116.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $101.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.47.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $107.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.97.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The restaurant operator reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 46.95% and a net margin of 5.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 28.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Clark sold 23,832 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.31, for a total transaction of $2,700,403.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 45,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,111,300.79. This represents a 34.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Janice L. Meyer sold 1,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.36, for a total value of $214,126.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,324,009.36. The trade was a 8.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 64,104 shares of company stock valued at $7,134,565 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $68,008,000 after purchasing an additional 29,037 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 482,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,772,000 after acquiring an additional 13,970 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter worth $38,020,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth approximately $35,793,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth about $13,743,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is a restaurant company best known for The Cheesecake Factory, a full-service casual dining brand offering an extensive menu of American and international-inspired dishes, along with a broad selection of cheesecakes and other desserts. The company also operates North Italia, an Italian restaurant concept, and owns Fox Restaurant Concepts, which develops and operates additional restaurant brands, including Flower Child and Culinary Dropout.

The company was founded by David Overton, who opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, in 1978 after his parents began a cheesecake business.