Oppenheimer Increases Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target to $75.00

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Oppenheimer's target price indicates a potential upside of 16.88% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CAKE. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.44.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $64.17 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average is $57.22 and its 200-day moving average is $52.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $33.50 and a 12-month high of $65.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.16.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 46.06% and a net margin of 4.33%. The business had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $927.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $2,402,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,289,168. The trade was a 51.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,145,062.88. This trade represents a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at about $49,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 100.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 38.5% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,244 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at $72,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 24.4% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 640 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 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.

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