Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at Oppenheimer

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho set a $75.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.5%

CAKE opened at $61.84 on Tuesday. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $43.07 and a 1-year high of $69.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.01.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.68% and a net margin of 3.96%.The business had revenue of $961.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $949.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Cheesecake Factory’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 39.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.70, for a total value of $459,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,896,713. This trade represents a 13.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total value of $40,474.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $393,339.54. This trade represents a 9.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 20,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,337,936 over the last ninety days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,337,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $118,006,000 after buying an additional 280,553 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,800,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $98,373,000 after buying an additional 96,074 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,785,955 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $90,155,000 after buying an additional 4,535 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,424,000 after buying an additional 207,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,213,106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,235,000 after buying an additional 5,910 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.