Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $50.00 at Barclays

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price increased by Barclays from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $54.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.31. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $33.05 and a 52-week high of $57.32. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 101,208 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,801,000 after buying an additional 13,678 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 489,570 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $23,225,000 after buying an additional 146,469 shares in the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth $1,500,000. State of Wyoming increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,215 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapience Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth $1,857,000. Hedge funds and other 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.