The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities 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 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.38.

CAKE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered Cheesecake Factory from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Raymond James raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th.

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Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,008,000 after acquiring an additional 155,614 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $64,663,000 after acquiring an additional 186,026 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $63,114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $1.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $49.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 915,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,523. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Cheesecake Factory's 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.