The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.75.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CAKE shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,038,000 after buying an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $46.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.33 and a 200-day moving average of $39.66. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $30.96 and a one year high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. 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 2.32%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.06%.

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.