Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Price Target Raised to $52.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $52.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

CAKE has been the topic of several other research reports. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $54.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.31. 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 $33.05 and a 52 week high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 41.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $227,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 77,660 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after buying an additional 4,053 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $345,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after buying an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.