PDT Partners LLC Makes New $13.74 Million Investment in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 172,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,000. Cheesecake Factory accounts for about 0.7% of PDT Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. NFSG Corp grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% in the 1st quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Scarlett May sold 7,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.66, for a total value of $819,021.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,241 shares in the company, valued at $1,872,621.06. The trade was a 30.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 94,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.27, for a total value of $10,004,789.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,543,577.35. This represents a 51.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 216,239 shares of company stock worth $22,463,500 in the last ninety days. 8.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CAKE. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $58.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $113.49 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.28. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $43.07 and a 1-year high of $118.46.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.26. The firm 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 revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.