Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $52.00 target price on the restaurant operator's stock.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.75 on Friday, hitting $46.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,345,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 967,807. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $40.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.87. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.47. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $30.26 and a 52-week high of $50.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 45.66%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,881 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter valued at $121,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at about $300,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

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.