Cheesecake Factory Lifts Dividend By 20%; Expands Share Repurchase Authorization

(RTTNews) - The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) announced its Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share on the company's common stock, representing a 20% increase. The dividend is payable on August 23, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 10, 2016.

The company's Board increased its share repurchase authorization by 7.5 million shares to 56.0 million shares. The company continues to expect that it will return its free cash flow to shareholders in fiscal 2016 in the form of dividends and share repurchases. During the second quarter of fiscal 2016, the company repurchased 0.5 million shares of its common stock at a cost of $26.6 million.

Total revenues were $558.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 as compared to $529.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Comparable restaurant sales at The Cheesecake Factory restaurants increased 0.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.