Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Cross Below 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.81 and traded as low as $106.42. Cheesecake Factory shares last traded at $106.76, with a volume of 1,129,662 shares trading hands.

Trending Headlines about Cheesecake Factory

Here are the key news stories impacting Cheesecake Factory this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks characterized CAKE as a strong momentum stock, a potentially supportive signal for trend-focused investors. The article does not point to a new company announcement or change in fundamentals. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discuss election results in districts with Cheesecake Factory locations, along with a political joke and references to the restaurant at an election-night event. These stories appear to use the chain as a cultural or geographic reference, not report changes to CAKE’s business. Article about election results in Cheesecake Factory districts Article about political coverage involving Cheesecake Factory

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $101.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $128.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.47.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 3.6%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $107.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.97. The firm has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.14.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The restaurant operator reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 44.53% and a net margin of 5.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Janice L. Meyer sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.36, for a total value of $214,126.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,324,009.36. This represents a 8.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 2,939 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.12, for a total transaction of $335,398.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,746,264.24. The trade was a 16.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,104 shares of company stock worth $7,134,565. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 482,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $50,772,000 after acquiring an additional 13,970 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.5% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 38,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 72.9% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 23,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 52.0% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 10,168 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,477 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is a restaurant company best known for The Cheesecake Factory, a full-service casual dining brand offering an extensive menu of American and international-inspired dishes, along with a broad selection of cheesecakes and other desserts. The company also operates North Italia, an Italian restaurant concept, and owns Fox Restaurant Concepts, which develops and operates additional restaurant brands, including Flower Child and Culinary Dropout.

The company was founded by David Overton, who opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, in 1978 after his parents began a cheesecake business.