Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 22,416 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.50% of Cheesecake Factory worth $10,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after buying an additional 43,128 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,038,000 after buying an additional 223,497 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after buying an additional 60,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 530,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,843,000 after buying an additional 3,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CAKE. StockNews.com lowered Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wedbush increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.1 %

CAKE stock opened at $48.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.47. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $30.96 and a 52 week high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 41.06%.

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.