Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Buys 1,777 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 208.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,777 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $63,114,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after acquiring an additional 12,493 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,245,000 after acquiring an additional 6,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 411,854 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,538,000 after acquiring an additional 9,252 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $49.16 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.47. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $33.05 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

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.