The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Up 13.1% in December

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,120,000 shares, an increase of 13.1% from the November 30th total of 5,410,000 shares. Approximately 13.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.62 on Monday, hitting $47.37. The stock had a trading volume of 717,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 981,422. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.54 and a 200-day moving average of $41.83. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. Cheesecake Factory has a 52-week low of $31.24 and a 52-week high of $52.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This trade represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth $67,000. Wealth Alliance purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth about $213,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at about $223,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on CAKE shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.93.

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.