The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 306,929 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 33,148 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cheesecake Factory were worth $16,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Transactions at Cheesecake Factory

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CAKE shares. Northcoast Research cut 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 target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $66.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.75.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $85.68 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.40. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a 1-year low of $43.07 and a 1-year high of $87.90.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 43.74%. The firm had revenue of $978.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

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.