The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 57.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,954 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 12,370 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Cheesecake Factory worth $1,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,114,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $45,365,000 after acquiring an additional 12,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $51,062,000 after acquiring an additional 673,076 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.06.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ:CAKE traded up $1.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,396,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,186,528. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $49.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.60. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $33.44 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million during 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Cheesecake Factory Profile

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.