Legal & General Group Plc Invests $8.40 Million in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 105,557 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $8,396,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,337,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $118,006,000 after buying an additional 280,553 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,785,955 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $90,155,000 after buying an additional 4,535 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,320 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,424,000 after buying an additional 207,788 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,143 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $68,008,000 after acquiring an additional 29,037 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,152,174 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,170,000 after acquiring an additional 4,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAKE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $50.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Argus lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $72.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.47.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $108.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $95.37 and its 200-day moving average is $73.99. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $43.07 and a 12-month high of $118.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.01.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.54 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 43.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, Director Edie A. Ames sold 3,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.95, for a total value of $320,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,500. The trade was a 23.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President David M. Gordon sold 31,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.03, for a total value of $3,515,458.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 26,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,957,056.25. This trade represents a 54.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 213,749 shares of company stock worth $22,301,899. 8.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory 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.