Stephens Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Stephens from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 14.30% from the company’s current price.

CAKE has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $49.87 on Thursday. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $31.24 and a 52-week high of $52.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.10.

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

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% during the second quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 230,535 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,213 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 23,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $927,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.