The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.40.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at about $973,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,353,000 after purchasing an additional 99,341 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $48,772,000 after buying an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $45,365,000 after buying an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $49.73. 1,490,577 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,315,094. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $31.24 and a 12-month high of $52.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.58 and a 200 day moving average of $42.36.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

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.