Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) PT Set at $45.00 by Morgan Stanley

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) has been given a $45.00 price objective by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential downside of 27.91% from the company’s current price.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Argus set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.75.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $62.42 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.92. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $33.50 and a 1 year high of $65.99.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares in the company, valued at $2,289,168. The trade was a 51.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,774 shares in the company, 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 worth $7,456,992 over the last three months. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $422,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 42,743 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,678,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $334,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 295.7% in the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 29,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 21,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.