42,546 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE Bought by M&T Bank Corp

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp established a new position in The Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) in Q4, buying 42,546 shares worth about $2.15 million, or roughly 0.09% of the company.
• Institutional ownership is very high at 94.48%, with major funds (Invesco, American Century, Dimensional, Voloridge, Woodline) recently increasing their stakes.
• Analysts are mixed—six Buy, seven Hold and four Sell—resulting in an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $62.00.

M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 42,546 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,148,000. M&T Bank Corp owned about 0.09% of Cheesecake Factory as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 24.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,057,118 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $112,401,000 after purchasing an additional 407,223 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,800,388 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $98,373,000 after purchasing an additional 96,074 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,207,196 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $65,965,000 after purchasing an additional 28,361 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 54.0% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 747,046 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,819,000 after purchasing an additional 262,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1,059.3% in the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 618,056 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $33,771,000 after purchasing an additional 564,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Cheesecake Factory from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Scarlett May sold 5,206 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.95, for a total transaction of $327,717.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,618,759.25. The trade was a 16.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Spero G. Alex sold 4,790 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.00, for a total transaction of $316,140.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,337,936. Insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.3%

CAKE stock opened at $62.68 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $43.07 and a twelve month high of $69.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $60.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.46.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $961.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $949.03 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.96% and a return on equity of 45.68%. The business's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Cheesecake Factory's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is presently 39.09%.

About Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated NASDAQ: CAKE is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.

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