Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $19.54 Million Stock Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 411,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,252 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $19,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,114,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $45,365,000 after buying an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,245,000 after buying an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after buying an additional 99,341 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $51.29 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.34. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CAKE. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

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.