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

Key Points

• Oppenheimer raised its price target on The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) to $72 from $68 and maintains an "outperform" rating, implying about a 15.74% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst coverage is mixed: the stock's consensus is a "Hold" with an average target of $62, based on 6 Buys, 7 Holds and 4 Sells, while individual targets range from UBS's $53 (sell) to Citigroup's $75 (buy).
• In the most recent quarter CAKE beat expectations with $1.00 EPS vs. $0.98 est. and revenue of $961.6M (+4.4% year-over-year), while the stock trades around $62.21.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $68.00 to $72.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Oppenheimer's price target indicates a potential upside of 15.74% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CAKE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Cheesecake Factory from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group set a $53.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.00.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.21. The stock had a trading volume of 430,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,298,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.59. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $43.07 and a 1 year high of $69.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.75 and a 200 day moving average of $55.10. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.68% and a net margin of 3.96%.The firm had revenue of $961.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $949.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Ashley W. Hanscom sold 2,951 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total transaction of $193,703.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,041 shares in the company, valued at $724,731.24. This represents a 21.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 635 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total value of $40,474.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $393,339.54. This represents a 9.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,337,936 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at $2,743,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1,041.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 28,515 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 26,016 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 183.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 133,921 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $7,072,000 after buying an additional 86,705 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 186.9% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 43,226 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,362,000 after buying an additional 28,159 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.

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