Cheesecake Factory’s (CAKE) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.18.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $41.51 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.06. The company has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $29.27 and a 52 week high of $43.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $904.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the period. JCP Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at about $5,149,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after purchasing an additional 76,578 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 60,545 shares during the period. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 103.1% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 112,088 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,404,000 after purchasing an additional 56,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.