Moran Wealth Management LLC Invests $208,000 in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,387 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth $63,114,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,062,000 after purchasing an additional 673,076 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $9,401,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,408,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAKE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

CAKE stock opened at $47.68 on Thursday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $33.05 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.78. 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 results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. Analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.