Corebridge Financial Inc. Sells 1,996 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,659 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,996 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $1,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,245,000 after buying an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter worth about $223,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 7.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,090 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter worth about $329,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 39,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CAKE. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.38.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, 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. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $45.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.95. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12 month low of $33.05 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 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.