Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given New $51.00 Price Target at Stephens

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price lifted by Stephens from $50.00 to $51.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.9 %

CAKE opened at $45.82 on Wednesday. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $29.27 and a twelve month high of $49.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.27 and a 200-day moving average of $38.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.47.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 45.66%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.2% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the third quarter valued at approximately $345,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.5% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 77,660 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,053 shares in the last quarter. 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.