The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Update

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,120,000 shares, an increase of 13.1% from the November 30th total of 5,410,000 shares. Currently, 13.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.93.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $47.44. 721,853 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 980,393. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $47.64 and its 200 day moving average is $41.88. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $31.24 and a 1-year high of $52.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd 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. 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.