Studio Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Studio Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 541 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 204 shares during the period. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $26,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth $270,000. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth $1,142,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 10,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAKE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

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

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $56.06 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.83. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12 month low of $33.50 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $927.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

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.