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

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Wedbush in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $52.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s target price points to a potential upside of 11.71% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on CAKE. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $46.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.98. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $30.26 and a 52 week high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $747,052.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after buying an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 period. JCP Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,149,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 38.7% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 19,215 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 5,360 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 435,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,103,000 after purchasing an additional 28,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.