Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Price

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.06.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $50.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,113,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,017. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $33.44 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.83.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $912.67 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents 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 insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,423,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,559,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 5.8% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,648 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 100.0% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,645 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 951 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.