The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Cheesecake Factory, with 10 hold, five buy, one strong-buy and two sell ratings. The average 12-month price target is $81, below the stock’s reported $107.31 opening price.
• Cheesecake Factory reported quarterly EPS of $1.44, beating estimates of $1.18, while revenue rose 7.7% year over year to $1.03 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to $1.20 annually and a 1.1% yield; insiders have sold more than $18.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Hold" from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $81.00.

Several research firms have recently commented on CAKE. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Stephens reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $107.31 on Friday. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $43.07 and a 52 week high of $107.95. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $80.96 and a 200 day moving average of $67.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.26. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 43.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $999.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is 32.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,095 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.50, for a total transaction of $212,642.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,076 shares in the company, valued at $413,714. The trade was a 33.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ashley W. Hanscom sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,100. The trade was a 31.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 179,331 shares of company stock valued at $18,413,065 over the last 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% in the 1st quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the period. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 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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