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

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Stephens from $51.00 to $57.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.30% from the company’s current price.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Barclays upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.08.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $49.87 on Thursday. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $31.24 and a 1 year high of $52.10. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This trade represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after acquiring an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $317,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $628,000. Tabor Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,327,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.