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

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Wedbush in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $52.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.71% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on CAKE. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 1.6 %

CAKE opened at $46.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $30.26 and a 1-year high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares in the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth $5,149,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 38.7% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 5,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 7.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 435,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,103,000 after purchasing an additional 28,962 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is 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.