Optimize Financial Inc Purchases Shares of 14,337 The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• Optimize Financial Inc acquired 14,337 shares of The Cheesecake Factory valued at approximately $698,000 during the first quarter of the year.
• Insider transactions revealed that President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the company's stock, reducing his ownership by 63.85%.
• The Cheesecake Factory announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, yielding 1.8%, with a payout ratio of 33.23%.

Optimize Financial Inc bought a new position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,337 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $148,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,194 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $126,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,722 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $85,940,000 after purchasing an additional 689,784 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 17.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,604,626 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $78,081,000 after acquiring an additional 241,575 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at approximately $75,795,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 2.9%

Cheesecake Factory stock traded down $1.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,525,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,024,116. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm's fifty day moving average is $62.56 and its 200-day moving average is $56.00. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $36.78 and a fifty-two week high of $69.70.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CAKE shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.94.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, President David M. Gordon sold 43,335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.06, for a total value of $2,732,705.10. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 24,532 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,546,987.92. The trade was a 63.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total transaction of $816,121.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 8.40% of the company's stock.

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.