Oppenheimer Upgrades Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) to Outperform

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $50.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.19. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $31.24 and a 1 year high of $52.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,364,000 after buying an additional 22,416 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $317,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $628,000. 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.