Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.19% of Cheesecake Factory worth $45,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth about $67,000. Wealth Alliance purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $223,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $47.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.51. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $31.24 and a 52 week high of $52.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CAKE shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.93.

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.