Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $53.21 and last traded at $53.34, with a volume of 136071 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.40.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth $63,114,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,245,000 after purchasing an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.