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

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 558,343 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 104,037 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $26,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CAKE. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter valued at $395,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,353,000 after buying an additional 99,341 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 3rd quarter worth $973,000. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 7,317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $46.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $33.05 and a fifty-two week high of $57.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.01. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CAKE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.