Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys New Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,087 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CAKE. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth about $2,423,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth approximately $5,559,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.8% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,648 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,297,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.7% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,645 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.38.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,145,062.88. This trade represents a 70.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scarlett May sold 20,800 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.02, for a total transaction of $1,165,216.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,289.44. This represents a 47.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE opened at $62.68 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.53. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $33.50 and a 52 week high of $65.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

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.