Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 13,235 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 268,830 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,235 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $12,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 67,550 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth $63,114,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the 3rd 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,353,000 after purchasing an additional 99,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $52.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. As a group, analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

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.