Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Mizuho

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was downgraded by research analysts at Mizuho from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $85.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Mizuho’s price target suggests a potential upside of 0.33% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Argus set a $72.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.81.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $84.72 on Friday. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $43.07 and a one year high of $87.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.00 and its 200-day moving average is $64.77.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.74% and a net margin of 4.34%.The business had revenue of $978.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $964.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total transaction of $6,346,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,079,779 shares in the company, valued at $187,928,114.58. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total value of $161,601.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $400,497.90. The trade was a 28.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. NFSG Corp raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% during the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 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.