The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives $62.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Raymond James Financial cut Cheesecake Factory from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 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 Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Ashley W. Hanscom sold 2,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total transaction of $193,703.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,731.24. This trade represents a 21.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 5,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.95, for a total transaction of $327,717.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,759.25. This represents a 16.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 124,582 shares of company stock valued at $7,684,016. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,742 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 92,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,509,000 after acquiring an additional 21,887 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 109,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,343,000 after acquiring an additional 8,592 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,333 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 112,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $7,019,000 after acquiring an additional 5,326 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $61.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $43.07 and a 52 week high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 44.74%. The business had revenue of $978.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $964.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

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.