The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.27 (NASDAQ:CAKE)

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%.

Cheesecake Factory has a dividend payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cheesecake Factory to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $54.29 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.25. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $33.05 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

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.