Clark Matthew Eliot 4

What Happened

• Clark Matthew Eliot, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), had 1,059 shares of common stock withheld by the issuer on April 1, 2026 to satisfy tax withholding obligations tied to the vesting of restricted stock. The withheld shares are reported at $55.30 per share, a notional value of $58,563. This was a tax-withholding/net issuance transaction (code F), not an open-market sale.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-04-01; Filing date: 2026-04-03 (filed within the typical two-business-day Form 4 window).
• Price per share: $55.30; Total value reported: $58,563.
• Transaction type: F — shares withheld to satisfy tax obligations tied to restricted stock vesting (cashless/net issuance).
• Footnotes: F1 — shares were withheld by the issuer solely to satisfy tax withholding for net issuance on vesting; F2 — the underlying restricted shares remain subject to forfeiture.
• Shares owned after the transaction: not specified in the provided excerpt of the filing; see the full Form 4 for post-transaction beneficial ownership.

Context

• This is a routine tax-withholding action when restricted stock vests: the company retains shares rather than the insider paying cash. Such transactions are administrative and do not necessarily signal buying or selling intent in the open market.