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

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.42.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CAKE. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth about $11,729,000. Seven Eight Capital LP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 231.4% in the fourth quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 30,086 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 21,007 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% during the first 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 period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,108,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 5.1 %

Shares of CAKE opened at $42.60 on Tuesday. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $28.63 and a one year high of $42.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.49.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.54%.

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.