The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,121 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 668 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Cheesecake Factory by 208.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE stock opened at $53.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $48.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.60. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52-week low of $33.50 and a 52-week high of $57.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The business had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $927.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAKE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.60.

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.