Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $46.94 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.09. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $30.46 and a fifty-two week high of $50.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.44.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 0.00 % 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. Company insiders own 8.10% 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 the company. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after buying an additional 43,128 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,038,000 after buying an additional 223,497 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 60,545 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.7% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 530,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.