Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires 33,959 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management increased its Cheesecake Factory stake by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 33,959 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 503,184 shares worth about $25.4 million.
• The stock has seen mixed Wall Street sentiment: analysts’ consensus remains “Hold” with a $64.94 price target, even as firms like JPMorgan, Citi, Barclays, and Stephens adjusted ratings and targets.
• Cheesecake Factory reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.05 on revenue of $978.83 million, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equal to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 503,184 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 33,959 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.01% of Cheesecake Factory worth $25,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1,059.3% during the 3rd 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. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 24.7% during the 3rd 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. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 54.0% during the 3rd 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. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,455,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,050,000. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on CAKE shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Scarlett May sold 5,206 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.95, for a total transaction of $327,717.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,715 shares in the company, valued at $1,618,759.25. The trade was a 16.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $6,346,080.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 3,079,779 shares in the company, valued at $187,928,114.58. The trade was a 3.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $64.63 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.44. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $43.07 and a 12-month high of $69.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.04.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The business had revenue of $978.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Cheesecake Factory's revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 35.09%.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

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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