Fred Alger Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 55.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 151,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 54,043 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.30% of Cheesecake Factory worth $7,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,112,000 after purchasing an additional 32,000 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth about $489,000. Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,401,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $972,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,513,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $49.92 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.50 and a 1 year high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CAKE shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.63.

Cheesecake Factory Profile

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.