Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 20,769 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 618,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 20,769 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $29,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheesecake Factory presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 2.3 %

CAKE stock opened at $47.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $33.05 and a 52 week high of $57.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.96.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. Sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

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.