STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS

The Company provides stock-based compensation benefits to employees and non-employee directors pursuant to its 2014 Long Term Incentive Plan (the "Incentive Plan"), as well as to employees pursuant to its Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended (the "Purchase Plan", formerly named the 1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan).

Long Term Incentive Plan

The Incentive Plan provides for the grant of options (including options qualified as incentive stock options under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and options that are non-qualified), restricted stock, performance awards, bonus stock, and phantom stock to the Company's employees, consultants, non-employee directors and officers. The Incentive Plan expires on May 21, 2024. The terms of the awards (including vesting schedules) are established by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors. As of December 31, 2015, there were 1,454,675 shares available for issuance under the Incentive Plan.

Restricted Stock Awards

Under the Incentive Plan, the Company grants to non-employee directors and certain employees restricted stock awards or, at their election, restricted stock units at no cost to the recipient. Restricted stock awards qualify as participating securities as each award contains non-forfeitable rights to dividends. As such, the two-class method is required for the computation of earnings per share. See Note 6, “Earnings Per Share,” for further details. Restricted stock awards are considered outstanding at the date of grant but are subject to vesting periods upon issuance up to five years. Restricted stock units are considered vested at the time of issuance, however, since they cannot vote, they are not considered outstanding when issued. Restricted stock units settle in cash upon the termination of the grantees’ employment or directorship. In the event an employee or non-employee director terminates his or her employment or directorship with the Company prior to the lapse of the restrictions, the shares, in most cases, will be forfeited to the Company. The Company issues new shares or treasury shares, if available, when restricted stock vests. Compensation expense for restricted stock awards is calculated based on the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of grant and recognized over the requisite service period. Forfeitures are estimated at the time of valuation and reduce expense ratably over the vesting period. This estimate is adjusted annually based on the extent to which actual or expected forfeitures differ from the previous estimate.

A summary of the restricted stock awards as of December 31, 2015, along with the changes during the year then ended, is as follows:



	Awards		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested at December 31, 2014	911,350		$	58.86
Granted	298,873		83.92
Vested	(273,113	)	51.06
Forfeited	(43,750	)	67.62
Nonvested at December 31, 2015	893,360		$	69.16

The total fair value of restricted stock awards which vested during the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, was $13.9 million, $12.1 million and $9.8 million, respectively.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

During the twelve months ended December 31, 2015, our shareholders and the Board of Directors approved an additional 1.0 million shares of common stock for issuance under the Purchase Plan. As a result, the Purchase Plan authorizes the issuance of up to 4.5 million shares of common stock and provides that no options to purchase shares may be granted under the Purchase Plan after May 19, 2025. The Purchase Plan is available to all employees of the Company and its participating subsidiaries and is a qualified plan as defined by Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. At the end of each fiscal quarter (the “Option Period”) during the term of the Purchase Plan, employees can acquire shares of common stock from the Company at 85% of the fair market value of the common stock on the first or the last day of the Option Period, whichever is lower. As of December 31, 2015, there were 1,414,681 shares available for issuance under the Purchase Plan. During the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Company issued 102,029, 103,254, and 104,295 shares, respectively, of common stock to employees participating in the Purchase Plan. With respect to shares issued under the Purchase Plan, the Company’s Board of Directors has authorized specific share repurchases to fund the shares issuable under the Purchase Plan.

The weighted average fair value of employee stock purchase rights issued pursuant to the Purchase Plan was $18.56, $15.15, and $14.37 during the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The fair value of stock purchase rights is calculated using the grant date stock price, the value of the embedded call option and the value of the embedded put option.

Stock-Based Compensation

Total stock-based compensation cost was $18.9 million, $16.0 million, and $13.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Total income tax benefit recognized for stock-based compensation arrangements was $5.3 million, $4.4 million, and $3.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

As of December 31, 2015, there was $46.8 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to stock-based compensation arrangements which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.4 years.

Cash received from Purchase Plan purchases was $7.2 million, $6.0 million and $5.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The tax benefit realized for the tax deductions from options exercised and vesting of restricted shares totaled $2.1 million, $1.8 million and $3.0 million and increased additional paid in capital for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Tax benefits relating to excess stock-based compensation deductions are presented as a financing cash inflow, so the Company classified $2.1 million, $1.8 million and $3.0 million of excess tax benefits as an increase in financing activities and a corresponding decrease in operating activities in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.