Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 target price on the restaurant operator's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective points to a potential upside of 28.84% from the stock's previous close.

CAKE has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wedbush raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CAKE traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,634,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,271,201. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $31.24 and a 1-year high of $52.10. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $48.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.26.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares in the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter valued at about $5,149,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,353,000 after buying an additional 99,341 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.