M&T Bank Corp Takes Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 42,546 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,148,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 1,059.3% in the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 618,056 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $33,771,000 after acquiring an additional 564,744 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 24.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,057,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,401,000 after acquiring an additional 407,223 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 54.0% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 747,046 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,819,000 after acquiring an additional 262,081 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the third quarter worth about $9,455,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter worth about $8,050,000. 94.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

CAKE stock opened at $62.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.46. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $43.07 and a one year high of $69.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.59.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The restaurant operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $961.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $949.03 million. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 3.96% and a return on equity of 45.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This is a positive change from Cheesecake Factory’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 39.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.70, for a total transaction of $459,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,896,713. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alexander L. Cappello sold 635 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $40,474.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,339.54. The trade was a 9.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,582 shares of company stock valued at $1,337,936. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.