The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE Stock Holdings Lessened by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,791 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 29,267 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Cheesecake Factory worth $5,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,527 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1.6% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% in the third quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,415 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $64.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.97. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $42.69 and a 1-year high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $961.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $949.03 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.96% and a return on equity of 45.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This is a boost from Cheesecake Factory’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CAKE shares. Mizuho set a $75.00 price target on Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group set a $53.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Cheesecake Factory from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.70, for a total transaction of $459,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 44,090 shares in the company, valued at $2,896,713. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Spero G. Alex sold 4,790 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.00, for a total value of $316,140.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 15,376 shares of company stock worth $1,010,219 over the last quarter. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.