Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,503 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,429 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 409,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,091,000 after buying an additional 9,450 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Wealth Alliance purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $48,772,000 after purchasing an additional 43,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 435,307 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,103,000 after purchasing an additional 28,962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.08.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $39.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.39. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $28.58 and a 1-year high of $41.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.54%.

Cheesecake Factory Company 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.