The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Short Interest Update

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,130,000 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 6,760,000 shares. Currently, 17.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $48.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. Cheesecake Factory has a one year low of $33.05 and a one 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.02.

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

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the third quarter valued at $973,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 360,718 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,112,000 after acquiring an additional 32,000 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,401,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,364,000 after purchasing an additional 22,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 252.6% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 22,752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CAKE shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

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.