William Blair Issues Optimistic Forecast for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) - Stock analysts at William Blair raised their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report issued on Tuesday, April 22nd. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now forecasts that the restaurant operator will earn $0.57 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.55. William Blair currently has a "Outperform" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory's current full-year earnings is $3.71 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Cheesecake Factory's Q4 2025 earnings at $1.25 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.09 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. 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. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.06.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.29. 1,519,503 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,204,508. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company's 50 day moving average is $49.05 and its 200 day moving average is $48.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $33.44 and a one year high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares in the last quarter. 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.