Northern Trust Corp Raises Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 538,285 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 81,450 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.05% of Cheesecake Factory worth $25,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,045 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,772 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 95,100 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,512,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $55.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 428,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,488,204. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.71. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.60.

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.