First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $17.11 Million Stock Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $17,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the 4th 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. acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price 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. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 5.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $44.87 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12 month low of $33.05 and a 12 month high of $57.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,131,162.76. This 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 dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % 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.

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.