Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,157 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,821 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.10% of Cheesecake Factory worth $2,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $258,238,000 after acquiring an additional 21,096 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 33,954 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,611,000 after purchasing an additional 12,370 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $489,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth $2,606,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

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Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of CAKE stock traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $44.98. The stock had a trading volume of 902,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,530,220. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, 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. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $33.05 and a 12-month high of $57.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $51.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.08.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. On average, analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CAKE. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.