Raymond James Financial Increases Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target to $73.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Raymond James Financial from $70.00 to $73.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.89% from the company’s current price.

CAKE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Argus set a $60.00 target price on Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.94.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $62.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.40 and a 200-day moving average of $55.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $35.40 and a twelve month high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $955.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $945.82 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 45.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, EVP Scarlett May sold 20,800 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.02, for a total transaction of $1,165,216.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,289.44. This trade represents a 47.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total transaction of $816,121.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $448,379.28. This represents a 64.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,723 shares of company stock worth $11,005,819. 8.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 155,352 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,734,000 after buying an additional 6,391 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 508.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,037 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 5,880 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.9% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,651,000. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth approximately $202,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.