Inspire Investing LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,817 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at $63,114,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 597,901 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,245,000 after purchasing an additional 6,872 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 0.1 %

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $51.47 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $52.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.20.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAKE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

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.