Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,198 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,196 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,198 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $1,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the 4th 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. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $215,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CAKE. Wedbush lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $54.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.17. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.05 and a 1 year high of $57.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Cheesecake Factory 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.