The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Bought by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 32.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,341 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.79% of Cheesecake Factory worth $16,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 942,694 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,038,000 after purchasing an additional 223,497 shares during the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth approximately $5,149,000. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,245,000 after buying an additional 76,578 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 819,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,191,000 after buying an additional 60,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 103.1% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 112,088 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,404,000 after acquiring an additional 56,889 shares in the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on CAKE shares. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $653,178.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $747,052.76. This represents a 46.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $46.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 12-month low of $30.96 and a 12-month high of $50.75.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $865.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.06%.

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.