Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 520.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,888 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 34,296 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.08% of Cheesecake Factory worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,559,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 274,877 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $13,376,000 after buying an additional 6,047 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $489,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $972,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,513,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $2,402,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 40,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,289,168. This represents a 51.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total value of $1,105,816.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,345,331.04. The trade was a 45.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $67.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of CAKE traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.01. 1,634,649 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,259,049. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $33.50 and a 52 week high of $66.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 46.06%. The firm had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $927.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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.