Cheesecake Factory's (CAKE) "Overweight" Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $60.00 price target on the restaurant operator's stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.63.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE stock traded up $2.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $50.31. 1,673,046 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,224,553. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.17. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $33.50 and a one year high of $57.32. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in 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 last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. 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.