24,006 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Purchased by Quest Partners LLC

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 24,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $973,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CAKE. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,241,272 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $48,772,000 after acquiring an additional 43,128 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after acquiring an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,191,000 after acquiring an additional 60,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 0.7% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 530,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE opened at $46.63 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $30.96 and a fifty-two week high of $50.75. 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 (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 43.90%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is 41.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $653,178.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. The trade was a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

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.