Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Mizuho

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was upgraded by analysts at Mizuho to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

CAKE has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.82.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 7.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $50.39 on Tuesday. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $42.69 and a one year high of $69.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.66 and a 200-day moving average of $57.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.06.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The restaurant operator reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.08. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 47.25%. The company had revenue of $907.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total value of $2,732,705.10. Following the transaction, the president owned 24,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,987.92. The trade was a 63.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 274,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $13,376,000 after buying an additional 6,047 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,559,000. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Informed Momentum Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,023,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 217.4% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 27,894 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 19,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.