The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Sold by WINTON GROUP Ltd

WINTON GROUP Ltd lowered its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 71.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,672 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,684 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $222,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,112,000 after purchasing an additional 32,000 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $9,401,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during 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. Versor Investments LP boosted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 252.6% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 22,752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at about $513,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $48.66 on Tuesday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52-week low of $33.05 and a 52-week high of $57.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.78. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. Research analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAKE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.38.

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.