Brokerages Set The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target at $52.19

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.19.

CAKE has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,008,000 after buying an additional 155,614 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $64,663,000 after acquiring an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded down $2.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.13. 929,464 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,619,356. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. 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 has a twelve month low of $33.05 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $51.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.24.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

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.