The Spill
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) chief financial officer Matthew Eliot Clark exercised options on 23,832 shares at $40.42 on Oct. 29, 2026, and sold 23,832 shares the same day at a weighted average of $113.3096, or $2,700,394.39. The insider filing (Form 4) reached the SEC the next evening, one business day later, and his common stake ended the day where it started, at 45,109 shares.
Lag Clock
One business day later, inside the two-business-day deadline (Rule 16a-3).
Signal Check
The box for a pre-set trading plan (10b5-1) is not checked on this report, so the sale is an open-market sale with no disclosed plan, which is a statement about paperwork and nothing more.
What the filing shows
Two rows, both dated Oct. 29: an option exercise (code M) of 23,832 shares at $40.42, reported at $963,289.44, and an open-market sale (code S) of 23,832 shares at prices from $112.6200 to $113.7850, for $2,700,394.39. The sale was a 34.6% cut of the 68,941 shares Clark held right after the exercise.
After the filing, Clark holds 45,109 shares directly. A separate holdings line lists 36,220 shares of restricted stock, which the footnote says are subject to forfeiture. On the options side, he exercised 23,832 employee stock options, exercisable since Feb. 16, 2024, and expiring Feb. 16, 2033, and keeps 15,888 at the same $40.42 price.
The footnote on the sale price says the $113.3096 is a weighted average across multiple lots. Clark undertakes to provide the share count at each price on request to the company, any shareholder or SEC staff.
The Other Side
A CFO selling $2.7 million of stock reads like a view on the stock. The share counts say something narrower: Clark exercised 23,832 options, sold exactly 23,832 shares, and owned 45,109 shares both before the exercise and after the sale.
The calendar didn't force it either, since the options had been exercisable since Feb. 16, 2024, and run to Feb. 16, 2033. What the filing can't show is how the exercise was paid for, or whether the shares sold were the shares just exercised; it shows only that the two counts match.
What it can't tell you
- Why Clark sold. The form does not say.
- How the exercise was funded. The filing reports the exercise at $40.42 a share, $963,289.44 in total, and stops there; cash, a broker loan or another method would all look the same on this form.
- Where the 36,220 restricted shares sit. They appear on their own holdings line with a footnote marking them subject to forfeiture, while the 45,109-share figure is reported separately.
What to watch
Clark's next Form 4. He still holds 15,888 options at $40.42 that run to Feb. 16, 2033, and any further exercise or sale is due on a new report within two business days of the trade. The per-price breakdown of the Oct. 29 sale is available on request from Clark, per the footnote, to the company, any shareholder or SEC staff.
Original sources
Edited by K. Song. Educational reporting from public filings, not investment advice. Filings can be late, incomplete or amended; check the original source and dates. Free to read; advertising and sponsors pay for it, and they do not pick the stories. How we work · Corrections: [email protected]