Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $59.14 and last traded at $58.84, with a volume of 1334129 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $57.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAKE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.5%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.51 and a 200-day moving average of $50.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,168. This represents a 51.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $2,783,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,774 shares in the company, valued at $1,145,062.88. This represents a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992. Company insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $148,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859,194 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $75,795,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $126,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,722 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $47,720,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $85,940,000 after acquiring an additional 689,784 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.