Aquatic Capital Management LLC Has $4.09 Million Stock Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Aquatic Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 54.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,817 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 91,085 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Cheesecake Factory worth $4,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,333 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 36.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% during the third quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,568 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 211.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CAKE. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Stephens downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.81.

Insider Activity

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $40,474.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $393,339.54. This trade represents a 9.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Spero G. Alex sold 4,790 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,337,936. Insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $59.21 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.96. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1 year low of $42.69 and a 1 year high of $69.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.03.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $961.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $949.03 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.68% and a net margin of 3.96%.The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Cheesecake Factory’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.09%.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.