The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Up 20.3% in February

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,130,000 shares, an increase of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 6,760,000 shares. Currently, 17.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of Cheesecake Factory stock traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $46.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 494,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,127,359. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million during 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 Cheesecake Factory 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, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.