Bank of America Cuts Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target to $56.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target lowered by Bank of America from $61.00 to $56.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $75.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.47.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $49.80 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.14 and its 200 day moving average is $57.45. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $42.69 and a fifty-two week high of $69.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The restaurant operator reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.08. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 47.25% and a net margin of 4.33%.The company had revenue of $907.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.73%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total transaction of $2,732,705.10. Following the transaction, the president owned 24,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,546,987.92. This trade represents a 63.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $148,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,194 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $126,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,722 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $85,940,000 after purchasing an additional 689,784 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 6.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,704,314 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $106,792,000 after purchasing an additional 99,688 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $75,795,000. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.