Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 184,260 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,158 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 184,260 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.67% of Cheesecake Factory worth $16,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.38.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.48. 1,020,541 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,139,418. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $51.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.39. 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid 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 is 33.75%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 approximately $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 Company 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.