Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Price

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective raised by Piper Sandler from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $54.97 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $33.05 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 41.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $258,238,000 after buying an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,008,000 after buying an additional 155,614 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $63,114,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.