The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $52.19.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 101,208 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,801,000 after acquiring an additional 13,678 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 489,570 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,225,000 after acquiring an additional 146,469 shares in the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $1,500,000. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,215 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapience Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $1,857,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $50.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.43. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. On average, analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.