Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Cut to $48.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.81.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $48.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.03.

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. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % 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, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter valued at $973,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,112,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares in the last quarter. Ruffer LLP bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,401,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 252.6% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 22,752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 16,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.