The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Holdings Lifted by Jones Financial Companies Lllp

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 150.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 2,132 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $169,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter worth about $973,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 252.6% in the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 22,752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 411,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,538,000 after purchasing an additional 9,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,142,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAKE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $46.19 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.69 and its 200-day moving average is $46.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, 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. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.75%.

Cheesecake Factory 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.