Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Takes Position in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated $CAKE

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 36,766 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,924,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 1,059.3% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 618,056 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $33,771,000 after acquiring an additional 564,744 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the second quarter worth $38,020,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 24.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,057,118 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $112,401,000 after purchasing an additional 407,223 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 214.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 512,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,850,000 after purchasing an additional 349,168 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,583.7% in the fourth quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 287,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,499,000 after purchasing an additional 270,160 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 94,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.27, for a total transaction of $10,004,789.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares in the company, valued at $9,543,577.35. The trade was a 51.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President David M. Gordon sold 31,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.03, for a total transaction of $3,515,458.50. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 26,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,957,056.25. The trade was a 54.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,239 shares of company stock worth $22,463,500. Insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Northcoast Research cut Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Cheesecake Factory to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cheesecake Factory from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.47.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of CAKE opened at $112.07 on Friday. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has a twelve month low of $43.07 and a twelve month high of $118.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.25.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $999.54 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 43.97% and a net margin of 4.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.