Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 64.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 689,784 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $85,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,665 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 95,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,512,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,507 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 26,528 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 8,692 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus set a $60.00 target price on Cheesecake Factory in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on Cheesecake Factory and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.94.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, EVP Scarlett May sold 18,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total value of $1,105,816.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,331.04. The trade was a 45.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,289,168. The trade was a 51.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,000 shares of company stock worth $7,456,992. Company insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $61.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.08. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $33.50 and a twelve month high of $65.99.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 46.06%. The firm had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.