The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,040,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the March 31st total of 6,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 821,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.6 days. Approximately 15.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CAKE. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.64.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $33.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.30 and a 200 day moving average of $33.86. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $28.58 and a twelve month high of $38.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $877.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 2.95% and a return on equity of 41.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,568,464 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $168,724,000 after purchasing an additional 22,099 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 646,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,600,000 after purchasing an additional 17,521 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 559,492 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,588,000 after purchasing an additional 13,352 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 529,375 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,533,000 after purchasing an additional 41,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 476,762 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,446,000 after purchasing an additional 9,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.