The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Down 8.8% in November

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,410,000 shares, a drop of 8.8% from the November 15th total of 5,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 11.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, insider Keith Carango sold 13,095 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 14,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $747,052.76. This trade represents a 46.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,831,381 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,245,000 after acquiring an additional 76,578 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after acquiring an additional 67,550 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.6% in the 2nd 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,118,549 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $45,365,000 after acquiring an additional 12,493 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 31.1% in the 2nd 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $49.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $31.24 and a 52 week high of $52.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $865.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.13 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.90% and a net margin of 3.63%. Cheesecake Factory’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cheesecake Factory will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 41.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

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.