Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $45.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CAKE. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.18.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $41.51 on Tuesday. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $29.27 and a 52 week high of $43.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.06.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 3.32%. The firm had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $909.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 49.54%.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 11.4% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 39.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,135 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 2,892 shares during the period. JCP Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,149,000. Finally, Shellback Capital LP purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,120,000. 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.