The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 35.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 340,158 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 184,260 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.67% of Cheesecake Factory worth $16,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CAKE. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.81.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Up 0.4 %

CAKE opened at $48.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55. 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 Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.50 and a 200-day moving average of $47.10.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 approximately $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % 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.

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.