Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,702 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,103 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 18.0% during the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 257,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,522,000 after purchasing an additional 39,171 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 50.6% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 33,703 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 11,318 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the first quarter worth about $75,795,000. Ruffer LLP lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 58.0% in the first quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 313,046 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,232,000 after buying an additional 114,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,440 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $64.78 on Thursday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $35.12 and a fifty-two week high of $69.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.96. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 12,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.88, for a total transaction of $816,121.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,806 shares in the company, valued at $448,379.28. The trade was a 64.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Keith Carango sold 50,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider owned 20,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,145,062.88. This trade represents a 70.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 145,388 shares of company stock valued at $8,273,113 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the topic of several research reports. Argus set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.75.

Cheesecake Factory Company 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.