Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $69.82 and last traded at $70.0120, with a volume of 36902 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $67.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CAKE. Mizuho set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.94.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.85.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The business had revenue of $978.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $964.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total transaction of $161,601.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $400,497.90. The trade was a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total transaction of $6,346,080.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,079,779 shares in the company, valued at $187,928,114.58. This trade represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% in the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.