Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.75.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $46.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $30.96 and a 1 year high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released 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. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the 2nd 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 purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,149,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 5,360 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.