Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $66.00 to $79.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.82% from the stock’s previous close.

CAKE has been the topic of several other research reports. Stephens boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Northcoast Research downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.29.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $77.59. 164,199 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,294,302. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $43.07 and a fifty-two week high of $80.93.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.74% and a net margin of 4.34%.The business had revenue of $978.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Cheesecake Factory’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cheesecake Factory will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total transaction of $161,601.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $400,497.90. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $6,346,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,079,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,928,114.58. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1,059.3% during the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 618,056 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,771,000 after buying an additional 564,744 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,057,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $112,401,000 after buying an additional 407,223 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 214.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 512,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,850,000 after buying an additional 349,168 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,583.7% during the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 287,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,499,000 after acquiring an additional 270,160 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 747,046 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,819,000 after acquiring an additional 262,081 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.