The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.08.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after buying an additional 60,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 559,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,588,000 after buying an additional 13,352 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 1.2 %

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $36.70 on Friday. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $28.58 and a twelve month high of $41.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.14.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 49.54%.

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.