The Goldman Sachs Group Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $67.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous target price of $66.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 3.44% from the stock’s current price.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.44.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $64.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $33.50 and a 52-week high of $65.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $57.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.68.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 46.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total value of $1,105,816.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,331.04. The trade was a 45.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,145,062.88. The trade was a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 over the last quarter. Insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $258,238,000 after acquiring an additional 21,096 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $148,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859,194 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,722 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $85,940,000 after purchasing an additional 689,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 17.7% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,604,626 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,081,000 after buying an additional 241,575 shares during the period. 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.