Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Argus

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective decreased by Argus from $72.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Argus currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CAKE. Jefferies Financial Group set a $70.00 target price on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho set a $65.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $57.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.18.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.45. 1,114,385 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,438,901. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $54.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.08. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $42.69 and a one year high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $907.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.95 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 47.25% and a net margin of 4.33%.Cheesecake Factory’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.73%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total value of $2,732,705.10. Following the sale, the president owned 24,532 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,987.92. This represents a 63.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at $345,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 274,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,376,000 after purchasing an additional 6,047 shares in the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter worth about $514,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 4.0% in the first quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 520.3% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,990,000 after buying an additional 34,296 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.