15,045 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Bought by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd 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 (SEC). The firm acquired 15,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $713,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $63,114,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,062,000 after acquiring an additional 673,076 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $9,401,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $64,663,000 after acquiring an additional 186,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,513,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CAKE. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.38.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $51.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.44.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the 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 owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory 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.