HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 676 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,665 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 676 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Cheesecake Factory worth $1,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 741 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE stock opened at $48.70 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.50 and a 200-day moving average of $47.21. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.81.

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.