Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 16,650 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 272,052 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 16,650 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.53% of Cheesecake Factory worth $9,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 33,188 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 26,913 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 33,724 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 10,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CAKE. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, October 30th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.93.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $32.73 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.46. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $28.58 and a fifty-two week high of $41.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.44.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $830.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $842.63 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 2.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 62.43%.

Cheesecake Factory Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated engages in restaurant business. The company operates two bakeries that produces cheesecakes and other baked products for its restaurants, international licensees, third-party bakery customers, external foodservice operators, retailers, and distributors. It also operates restaurants in the United States and Canada under brands comprising The Cheesecake Factory, North Italia, and a collection of Fox Restaurant Concepts, as well as The Cheesecake Factory restaurants under licensing agreements internationally.