Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Argus

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its target price dropped by Argus from $72.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Argus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 15.06% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CAKE. Oppenheimer set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 target price (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho set a $65.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $70.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.18.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 1.8%

CAKE stock traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.80. The company had a trading volume of 679,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,436,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.46. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $42.69 and a fifty-two week high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.08. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 47.25% and a net margin of 4.33%.The business had revenue of $907.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total value of $2,732,705.10. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 24,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,987.92. This trade represents a 63.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 39.2% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.