Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Price

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $38.00 to $45.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $45.82 on Wednesday. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $29.27 and a 52-week high of $49.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 45.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,829,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after acquiring an additional 43,128 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,149,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 38.7% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 19,215 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 5,360 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by 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.