Q4 EPS Forecast for Cheesecake Factory Lifted by Analyst

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q4 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report issued on Wednesday, March 5th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $1.27 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.98. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory’s current full-year earnings is $3.71 per share.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%.

CAKE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $48.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. 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.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,114,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,288,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $51,062,000 after buying an additional 673,076 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,827,000. Finally, JCP Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 181.3% in the 4th quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC now owns 667,210 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,652,000 after buying an additional 430,000 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.