The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Stock Position Lowered by AdvisorShares Investments LLC

AdvisorShares Investments LLC decreased its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 17.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,335 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 723 shares during the quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAKE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAKE opened at $49.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 52 week low of $33.44 and a 52 week high of $57.32. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.98.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.