Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given New $62.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target lowered by Citigroup from $67.00 to $62.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on CAKE. Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.81.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $47.02 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.36. Cheesecake Factory has a 12-month low of $33.08 and a 12-month high of $57.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,238,000 after acquiring an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,008,000 after purchasing an additional 155,614 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,114,000. 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.