Raymond James Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Raymond James Financial from $63.00 to $70.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s price target points to a potential upside of 11.68% from the company’s previous close.

CAKE has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $62.68 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Cheesecake Factory has a 12 month low of $33.50 and a 12 month high of $65.99.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 46.06% and a net margin of 4.33%. The firm had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $927.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $2,402,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,289,168. The trade was a 51.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total transaction of $1,105,816.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,331.04. This represents a 45.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 buying an additional 21,096 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $148,204,000 after buying an additional 1,859,194 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $126,088,000 after buying an additional 1,178,722 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $85,940,000 after buying an additional 689,784 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,604,626 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,081,000 after buying an additional 241,575 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.