The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Announces $0.27 Quarterly Dividend

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share by the restaurant operator on Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th.

Cheesecake Factory has a payout ratio of 26.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cheesecake Factory to earn $4.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.3%.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $50.17 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.60.

Insider Activity

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.