The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Plans $0.27 Quarterly Dividend

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%.

Cheesecake Factory has a dividend payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Cheesecake Factory to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of CAKE opened at $54.29 on Thursday. 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 has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $50.96 and its 200 day moving average is $45.25. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CAKE. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

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.