Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $41.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $36.00 to $41.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CAKE. Raymond James upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $49.73 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $31.24 and a one year high of $52.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. This trade represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,038,000 after acquiring an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at about $5,149,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after buying an additional 99,341 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.