11,536 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Purchased by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $547,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,114,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,062,000 after acquiring an additional 673,076 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 618,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,350,000 after purchasing an additional 20,769 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, 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 value of $5,308,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $50.80 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.39.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.81.

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.