Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $38.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.25.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 5.2 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $36.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.73 and a 200-day moving average of $36.45. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $28.58 and a 1 year high of $41.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $904.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 3,785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.10, for a total value of $151,778.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,125,687.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 276.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at about $67,000. 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.