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

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.1250.

CAKE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a 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. Finally, Northcoast Research lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $82.76 on Monday. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $43.07 and a 12-month high of $84.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 35.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman owned 3,079,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,928,114.58. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,337,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $118,006,000 after acquiring an additional 280,553 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,785,955 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,155,000 after acquiring an additional 4,535 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,424,000 after acquiring an additional 207,788 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $68,008,000 after purchasing an additional 29,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,152,174 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,170,000 after purchasing an additional 4,577 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.