Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given “Outperform” Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $52.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CAKE. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.55. 1,345,365 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,314,992. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $30.26 and a 12-month high of $50.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.06%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $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 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 60,545 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 530,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.