Short Interest in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Expands By 20.3%

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,130,000 shares, an increase of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 6,760,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 17.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CAKE shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ CAKE traded up $1.13 on Wednesday, hitting $47.94. 559,921 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,129,699. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.01.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at $973,000. Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $9,401,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,112,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 16,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

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.