Matthew Eliot Clark Sells 29,000 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $54.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.17. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. On average, research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 10,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.