Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases New Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.6 %

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $50.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.42.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

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.