Wedbush Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.22% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.25.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 5.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded down $2.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $36.82. 1,719,212 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 940,251. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.73 and its 200 day moving average is $36.45. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $28.58 and a fifty-two week high of $41.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 42.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 3,785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.10, for a total transaction of $151,778.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,072 shares in the company, valued at $1,125,687.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 530,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth approximately $67,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.4% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $927,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.