Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 22,416 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.50% of Cheesecake Factory worth $10,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth $67,000. Wealth Alliance acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at about $223,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $47.93.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of CAKE stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $47.44. The company had a trading volume of 721,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 980,393. 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $31.24 and a 1-year high of $52.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.64 and a 200 day moving average of $41.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $866.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Cheesecake Factory's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.