Short Interest in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Grows By 5.5%

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,900,000 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the September 30th total of 5,590,000 shares. Approximately 12.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 979,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $1,829,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $48,772,000 after buying an additional 43,128 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,149,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 38.7% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 19,215 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 5,360 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $46.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 792,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 957,012. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.49. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $29.27 and a 12-month high of $49.75. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $40.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 45.19%.

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.