The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Chairman Sells $5,308,000.00 in Stock

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $54.03 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12 month low of $33.05 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in 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 grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Company 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.