Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $40.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.64.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $33.45 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.39. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $28.58 and a 1 year high of $38.19. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 2.95% and a return on equity of 41.66%. The firm had revenue of $877.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2,369.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 905,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,913,000 after purchasing an additional 868,460 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $13,927,000. Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $10,360,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth about $6,244,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $6,609,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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.