JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Target Price to $38.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.08.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 132,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 950,651. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.51. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $28.58 and a 52 week high of $41.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $904.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 3.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.54%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 3,785 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.10, for a total value of $151,778.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,125,687.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 276.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth about $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.