New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 500 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,160 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.16% of Cheesecake Factory worth $3,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CAKE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,112,000 after acquiring an additional 32,000 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Ruffer LLP bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,401,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $972,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,513,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.1%

CAKE stock opened at $65.21 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.10 and its 200 day moving average is $52.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $65.99.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 46.06% and a net margin of 4.33%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total value of $1,105,816.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,872 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,331.04. The trade was a 45.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 40,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,289,168. This represents a 51.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,456,992 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CAKE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus set a $60.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.63.

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.