Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Wedbush from $52.00 to $59.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 22.76% from the company’s previous close.

CAKE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.75.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CAKE opened at $48.06 on Thursday. 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 50-day moving average price of $41.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.40. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $30.96 and a 12-month high of $50.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The business had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,881 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter worth approximately $121,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.