Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stock Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 150.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,553 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,132 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew 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. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew 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. KBC Group NV grew 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. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 208.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $46.19 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 value of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

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.