Aviance Capital Partners LLC Raises Holdings in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,888 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,844 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAKE. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $63,114,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 166.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,076,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,062,000 after purchasing an additional 673,076 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter worth about $3,408,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after buying an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Cheesecake Factory by 159.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 97,765 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after acquiring an additional 60,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE stock opened at $49.16 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.05 and a 1 year high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.55.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $912.67 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CAKE. Raymond James boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.19.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value 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 $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.