133,153 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Bought by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in The Cheesecake Factory, purchasing 133,153 shares worth approximately $6.48 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in The Cheesecake Factory, with Principal Financial Group Inc. owning 274,877 shares valued at $13.37 million, and others contributing significantly as well.
• Insiders at The Cheesecake Factory, including Keith Carango and Scarlett May, sold substantial amounts of stock recently, indicating a decrease in their ownership percentages.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 133,153 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $6,479,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.27% of Cheesecake Factory as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter worth about $75,795,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $56,288,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $85,940,000 after buying an additional 689,784 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $21,827,000. Finally, JCP Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 181.3% in the fourth quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC now owns 667,210 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $31,652,000 after buying an additional 430,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of CAKE traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.99. The company had a trading volume of 976,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,113. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.12. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $35.40 and a 52 week high of $69.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.17.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.10. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.92% and a net margin of 4.33%. The firm had revenue of $955.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $945.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is presently 33.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAKE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Argus set a $60.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total value of $816,121.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,806 shares in the company, valued at $448,379.28. This represents a 64.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $2,783,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,145,062.88. This trade represents a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 188,723 shares of company stock worth $11,005,819 over the last 90 days. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.