The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.27 (NASDAQ:CAKE)

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th.

Cheesecake Factory has a dividend payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cheesecake Factory to earn $4.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.8%.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

CAKE traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $54.65. 2,232,702 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,442,655. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $33.05 and a 12 month high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $912.67 million. Analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.19.

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.