Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 61,415 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• Fred Alger Management LLC has reduced its stake in The Cheesecake Factory by 40.5%, now owning approximately 0.18% of the company valued at $4.4 million.
• In contrast, Wellington Management Group LLP has increased its position by 156.7%, owning over 3 million shares worth approximately $148 million.
• The Cheesecake Factory has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, representing a 1.8% yield with a payout ratio of 33.23%.

Fred Alger Management LLC lowered its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 40.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,393 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 61,415 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC owned about 0.18% of Cheesecake Factory worth $4,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,742 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,399,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Bosun Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at $318,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter worth about $1,677,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 217.4% in the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 27,894 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 19,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter worth about $2,368,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CAKE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.94.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total transaction of $2,732,705.10. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 24,532 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,987.92. The trade was a 63.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total value of $816,121.44. Following the sale, the director owned 6,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $448,379.28. This represents a 64.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $56.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 403,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,427,663. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $69.70. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $62.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 33.23%.

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.