Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target to $45.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator's stock.

CAKE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.06.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $50.15. 1,113,531 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,196,110. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $49.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $33.44 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $17,112,000 after acquiring an additional 32,000 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Ruffer LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $9,401,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth $972,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth $6,513,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.