Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

CAKE has been the subject of several 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 report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $48.10 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $30.96 and a 12-month high of $50.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.30.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,191,000 after acquiring an additional 60,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,245,000 after acquiring an additional 6,872 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.