Junto Capital Management LP Invests $21.83 Million in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 460,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $21,827,000. Junto Capital Management LP owned about 0.90% of Cheesecake Factory at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 208.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CAKE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.60.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE stock opened at $50.17 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.50 and a 1 year high of $57.32. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.44.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $927.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.40% 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.