The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• The Cheesecake Factory has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with a mix of four sell, five hold, and seven buy ratings.
• Recent earnings showed an EPS of $1.16, beating expectations, while revenue increased by 5.7% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, giving an annualized yield of 1.9%.

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.9375.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total transaction of $816,121.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $448,379.28. This represents a 64.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total value of $2,732,705.10. Following the sale, the president directly owned 24,532 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,546,987.92. The trade was a 63.85% 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

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,302 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,296 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 40,492 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 12,533 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 20,562 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $975,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,474 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,303,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $56.30 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year high of $69.70. The company has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $62.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.06.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.10. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 45.92%. The company had revenue of $955.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $945.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.23%.

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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