The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $54.00.

CAKE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,774 shares in the company, valued at $1,145,062.88. The trade was a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total transaction of $1,105,816.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,331.04. The trade was a 45.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 over the last ninety days. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $148,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859,194 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at $75,795,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,088,000 after buying an additional 1,178,722 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter worth $47,720,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $85,940,000 after acquiring an additional 689,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $58.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $33.50 and a fifty-two week high of $59.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.91.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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.