Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 39,800 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• Hennessy Advisors trimmed its stake in The Cheesecake Factory by 5.3% in Q4, selling 39,800 shares and leaving 714,400 shares (about $36.06M), making CAKE roughly 1.3% of Hennessy’s portfolio and its 23rd-largest holding.
• Cheesecake Factory posted Q4 EPS of $1.00 (beating estimates by $0.02) and revenue of $961.6M, up 4.4% year-over-year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.30 (1.9% yield); analysts’ consensus rating is a Hold with an average target of $61.88.
• Institutional investors own 94.48% of CAKE, while insiders have sold about 20,582 shares (~$1.34M) in the past 90 days and collectively hold roughly 8% of the company.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 714,400 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 39,800 shares during the period. Cheesecake Factory accounts for approximately 1.3% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 1.43% of Cheesecake Factory worth $36,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3,343.8% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,102 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 170.7% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,164 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 36.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 32.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,333 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% during the third quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group set a $53.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, 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. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.88.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE stock opened at $62.68 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12 month low of $43.07 and a 12 month high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.96% and a return on equity of 45.68%. The firm had revenue of $961.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $949.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Cheesecake Factory's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.09%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 635 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $40,474.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $393,339.54. This represents a 9.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ashley W. Hanscom sold 2,951 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total value of $193,703.64. Following the transaction, the insider owned 11,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $724,731.24. This represents a 21.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,582 shares of company stock worth $1,337,936. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

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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