Earnest Partners LLC Grows Stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,578 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned 5.56% of Cheesecake Factory worth $111,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2,360.7% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 276.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the first quarter valued at about $121,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CAKE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.08.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CAKE opened at $40.14 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.50. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $28.58 and a 12-month high of $41.33.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $904.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $909.19 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.54%.

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.