PDT Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 34,473 The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory, purchasing 34,473 shares valued at approximately $1,677,000 during the first quarter.
• Analysts have varying ratings on CAKE, with UBS setting a target price of $50.00 and a "sell" rating, while Oppenheimer has an "outperform" rating with a target of $75.00.
• The Cheesecake Factory reported a quarterly EPS of $1.16, beating the consensus estimate, and announced a dividend of $0.27 per share, equivalent to a 1.8% yield.

PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 34,473 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,677,000. PDT Partners LLC owned 0.07% of Cheesecake Factory at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.2% during 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 last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter worth $5,559,000. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at about $299,000. Informed Momentum Co LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter worth $3,023,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 50.6% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 33,703 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 11,318 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $60.27. 294,345 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,427,509. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.10. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52-week low of $35.40 and a 52-week high of $69.70. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $63.15 and a 200-day moving average of $55.89.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $955.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $945.82 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 45.92%. Cheesecake Factory's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAKE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.94.

Insider Activity

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

About Cheesecake Factory

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.