125,898 Shares in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE Purchased by Palisade Capital Management LP

Palisade Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 125,898 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. NFSG Corp increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 115.8% during the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 682 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth approximately $57,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 973.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners acquired a new position in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CAKE shares. Zacks Research upgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $91.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $113.49 on Wednesday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a one year low of $43.07 and a one year high of $118.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.28.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.54 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.97% and a net margin of 4.61%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, EVP Scarlett May sold 7,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.66, for a total value of $819,021.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,872,621.06. This represents a 30.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ashley W. Hanscom sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $754,100. The trade was a 31.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,239 shares of company stock worth $22,463,500. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Profile

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.