Stephens Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by analysts at Stephens in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stephens’ price target indicates a potential upside of 10.52% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CAKE. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research 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. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $54.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Cheesecake Factory has a 1 year low of $33.05 and a 1 year high of $57.32. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.25.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Analysts expect that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 21,096 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $67,008,000 after buying an additional 155,614 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $64,663,000 after acquiring an additional 186,026 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in 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.

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.