The Company currently has one active stock-based compensation plan, the 2017 Plan, which was adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors on April 17, 2017 and was approved by its shareholders on June 8, 2017, and subsequently amended by the Board in February 2019, which was approved by the Company's shareholders on June 11, 2019. The Board has reserved a maximum of 370,000 shares of our common stock that may be issued under the 2017 Plan (subject to adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends or other changes in corporate capitalization). As of December 31, 2023, the Company had a total of 108,468 shares available for grant under the 2017 Plan, which expires on April 16, 2027.

The 2017 Plan provides for grants of incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock and performance stock units to our employees, board members, and consultants. However, only employees of the Company and its corporate subsidiaries are eligible to receive incentive stock options. The exercise price per share for all stock options will be no less than the market value of a share of common stock on the date of grant. Any incentive stock option granted to an employee owning more than 10% of our common stock will have an exercise price of no less than 110% of our common stock’s market value on the grant date.

The majority of stock options vest over two or three years, and generally are granted with a term of ten years, or five years in the case of an incentive option granted to an employee who owns more than 10% of our common stock.

A summary of changes in stock options outstanding during the year ended December 31, 2023, is as follows:


	2023
	Number of Options (in thousands)	Weighted average exercise price		Weighted average remaining contractual life (in years)	Aggregate intrinsic value (in thousands)
Outstanding at beginning of year	244	$	17.35
Granted	5	12.58
Exercised	(2)	5.72
Expired	(12)	10.01
Forfeit	—	—
Outstanding at end of year	235	$	17.73	3.47	$	—
Options exercisable at year end	228	$	17.77	3.30	$	—

During 2023 and 2022, the Company issued 2,000 and 11,334 treasury shares upon the exercise of options and granted 5,000 and 11,807 new options to management and members of the Board, respectively. Options exercised during the years ending December 31, 2023 and 2022 had a total intrinsic value, calculated as the difference between the exercise date stock price and the exercise price, of less than $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively. Non-vested options at December 31, 2023 and 2022 were approximately 6,668 and 10,003, respectively.

We grant stock options to our employees, board members, and consultants. At the date of grant, we determine the fair value of a stock option award and recognize compensation expense over the requisite service period, or the vesting period of such stock option award, which is two or three years. The fair value of the stock option award is calculated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires us to apply judgment and use subjective assumptions, including expected stock option life, expected volatility, expected average risk-free interest rates, and expected forfeiture rates.


	2023		2022

Dividend yield:	6.4	%	2.6 - 3.9	%
Risk-free interest rate:	4.0	%	2.9 - 3.4	%
Expected market price volatility:	66.5	%	63.6 - 64.9	%
Weighted average expected life of stock options:	4.5 years		4.5 years

The computation of the expected volatility assumption used in the Black-Scholes calculations for new grants is based on historical volatility of the Company’s stock. The expected life assumptions are based on the Company’s historical employee exercise and forfeiture behavior.

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of stock options granted during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $4.32 and $7.21 per share, respectively. The total fair value of awards vested during each of the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $0.1 million.

The Company is required to measure and recognize compensation expense related to any outstanding and unvested stock options previously granted, and thereafter recognize, in its consolidated financial statements, compensation expense related to any new stock options granted after implementation using fair-value based on an option-pricing model.

If we grant additional stock options in the future, we would be required to recognize additional compensation expense over the vesting period of such stock options in our consolidated statement of operations. As of December 31, 2023, we had 108,468 shares available for grant in the future.

The Company recorded the following amounts related to the expense of the fair values of options during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):


	2023		2022
Selling, general and administrative expenses and income from operations before income taxes	$	43	$	78
Benefit for income taxes	(10)		(18)
Effect on net income	$	33	$	60

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had less than $0.1 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to stock options currently outstanding, to be recognized in future years over a weighted-average period of 0.95 years, ending December 31, as follows (in thousands):


	Total gross unrecognized compensation expense		Total tax benefit associated with unrecognized compensation expense		Total net unrecognized compensation expense
2024	$	18	$	4	$	14
2025	3		1		2


	$	21	$	5	$	16