The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 558,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 104,037 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.09% of Cheesecake Factory worth $26,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in 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 period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,131,162.76. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Down 1.0 %

CAKE stock opened at $46.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. 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 one year low of $33.05 and a one year high of $57.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.01.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.