Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $60.00 target price on the restaurant operator's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on CAKE. Raymond James upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.6 %

Cheesecake Factory stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Thursday, hitting $54.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,232,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,367,324. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. The stock's fifty day moving average is $51.16 and its 200 day moving average is $45.46. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32. 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 (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $258,238,000 after purchasing an additional 21,096 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,008,000 after purchasing an additional 155,614 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $64,663,000 after purchasing an additional 186,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.