Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $40.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CAKE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cheesecake Factory from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $35.64.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $33.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.34 and a 200-day moving average of $33.43. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.48. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $28.58 and a 1 year high of $38.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 41.66% and a net margin of 2.95%. The company had revenue of $877.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $876.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.43%.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 71.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 50,091 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 20,892 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 51.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 5,537 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 30,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,726 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,306 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 5,247 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.