Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Rating Increased to Buy at Citigroup

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) was upgraded by Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $47.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their previous target price of $38.00. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 30.34% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.67.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 6.2 %

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $36.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.99. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $28.58 and a 12 month high of $38.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.48.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $891.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $890.49 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 41.66% and a net margin of 2.95%. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $11,729,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,838,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 411,017 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,454,000 after buying an additional 131,295 shares during the period. IPG Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC now owns 151,695 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,311,000 after buying an additional 77,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,532,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.