26,511 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Acquired by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,511 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,290,000. Legato Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Cheesecake Factory at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% in the first 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 during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,559,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $489,000. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $972,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CAKE. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $67.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.38.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.78. 1,189,272 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,437,468. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $33.50 and a one year high of $69.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.16. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $59.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,289,168. This trade represents a 51.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,145,062.88. This represents a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 in the last ninety 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.