Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 13.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 802 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 0.8% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 758,783 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $27,430,000 after purchasing an additional 6,166 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 400,099 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,464,000 after buying an additional 18,250 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,729,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA boosted its stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.6% in the second quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 230,535 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,058,000 after buying an additional 12,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gagnon Securities LLC grew its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1.0% during the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 218,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,908,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CAKE stock opened at $39.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.31. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $28.58 and a twelve month high of $41.33.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business had revenue of $904.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 49.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CAKE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.08.

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.