1492 Capital Management LLC Sells 65,604 Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

1492 Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 76.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,941 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 65,604 shares during the quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $1,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAKE. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 226.5% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 661.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 716 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in Cheesecake Factory by 3,343.8% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,102 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAKE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Argus set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.94.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of CAKE stock opened at $80.38 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.92 and a 200 day moving average of $60.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $43.07 and a 1-year high of $80.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.04.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $978.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $964.57 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 2,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.90, for a total transaction of $161,601.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,171 shares in the company, valued at $400,497.90. This represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 104,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $6,346,080.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,079,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,928,114.58. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is an American restaurant company and distributor renowned for its full-service casual-dining concept and specialty cheesecakes. Headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California, the company operates more than 200 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory® brand across the United States, Puerto Rico and select international markets. In addition to sit-down dining, Cheesecake Factory franchised locations offer catering and take-out services, while a separate manufacturing arm supplies branded cheesecakes and desserts to supermarkets, hotels and other foodservice operators.

The origins of the brand trace back to a small cheesecake bakery founded in Detroit in the 1940s.