SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 16,355 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC cut its Cheesecake Factory stake by 62.7% in the first quarter, selling 16,355 shares and leaving it with 9,709 shares valued at about $532,000.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with five Buy ratings, eleven Hold ratings, and three Sell ratings; the consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $66.29.
• Cheesecake Factory reported solid quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.05 versus estimates of $1.03 and revenue of $978.83 million, up 5.6% year over year.

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 62.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,709 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 16,355 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3,343.8% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,102 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Northcoast Research downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total value of $161,601.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $400,497.90. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $6,346,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,079,779 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $187,928,114.58. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $77.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $68.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.98. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52-week low of $43.07 and a 52-week high of $80.93.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The company had revenue of $978.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $964.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Cheesecake Factory's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.09%.

Cheesecake Factory Profile

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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