Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Rating Increased to Outperform at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $65.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $50.45 on Tuesday. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $31.24 and a 1 year high of $52.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.26. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after buying an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $317,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter worth approximately $628,000. 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.