Blair William & Co. IL Sells 599 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,173 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 599 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CAKE. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter worth $49,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 38.5% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,244 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter valued at $72,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total transaction of $2,783,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,145,062.88. This represents a 70.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 42,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $2,402,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,878 shares in the company, valued at $2,289,168. This trade represents a 51.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 145,388 shares of company stock worth $8,273,113. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.75.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $62.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.51. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52-week low of $35.12 and a 52-week high of $69.70.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $955.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $945.82 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.92% and a net margin of 4.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 33.23%.

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.