William Blair Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by William Blair in a note issued to investors on Thursday,RTT News reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

CAKE traded up $0.25 on Thursday, hitting $54.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,212,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,373,879. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.25. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Equities analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $63,114,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $56,288,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,062,000 after acquiring an additional 673,076 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $21,827,000. Finally, JCP Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC now owns 667,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,652,000 after acquiring an additional 430,000 shares during 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.