Partners' Capital, Equity and Incentive Compensation Plans (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Summary of award activity under equity incentive plans and related information

The following is a summary of award activity under the 2010 Equity Incentive Plan and 2013 Equity Incentive Plan and related information for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018:


	2010 Equity Incentive Plan					2013 Equity Incentive Plan
	Numbers of Class O units	Weighted average exercise price		Weighted average fair value		Options	Weighted average exercise price		Weighted average fair value		Restricted Stock / Deferred Stock	Weighted average fair value at grant date		TSR Units	Weighted average fair value at grant date		FFO Units	Weighted average fair value at grant date
Outstanding at January 1, 2018	568,040	$	23.52	$	5.00	1,369,270	$	38.18	$	7.80	381,864	$	46.37	—	$	—	—	$	—
Granted	—	—		—		674,081	34.05		5.63		348,152	35.27		—	—		—	—
Exercised/Vested (1)	(465,761)	23.40		4.76		(6,188)	21.50		3.68		(224,660)	46.23		—	—		—	—
Cancelled/Expired	—	—		—		—	—		—		(85,047)	43.50		—	—		—	—
Outstanding at December 31, 2018	102,279	$	24.05	$	5.67	2,037,163	$	36.86	$	7.10	420,309	$	37.83	—	$	—	—	$	—
Granted	—	—		—		135,594	42.27		7.62		274,564	42.25		86,089	54.64		86,089	42.01
Exercised/Vested (1)	(19,969)	20.25		4.42		(125,213)	30.80		6.21		(279,429)	39.20		—	—		—	—
Cancelled/Expired	—	—		—		(112,706)	45.86		9.43		(25,694)	42.17		(1,739)	54.64		(1,739)	42.01
Outstanding at December 31, 2019	82,310	$	24.97	$	5.97	1,934,838	$	37.11	$	7.05	389,750	$	39.67	84,350	$	54.64	84,350	$	42.01
Granted	—	—		—		99,872	56.84		9.35		302,591	57.47		84,202	79.18		84,202	56.84
Performance Adjustment (2)	—	—		—		—	—		—		—	—		—	—		59,844	42.01
Exercised/Vested (1)	(6,875)	25.00		4.49		(98,303)	28.84		5.18		(264,466)	39.89		—	—		(96,129)	42.01
Cancelled/Expired	—	—		—		—	—		—		(11,379)	49.38		—	—		—	—
Outstanding at December 31, 2020	75,435	$	25.00	$	6.11	1,936,407	$	38.55	$	7.26	416,496	$	52.20	168,552	$	66.90	132,267	$	51.45

(1)Represents (i) Class O units which were converted to Class A units, (ii) options to purchase Class A common stock which were exercised, and (iii) the Class A common stock that has been released from restriction and which was not surrendered by the holder to satisfy their statutory minimum federal and state tax obligations associated with the vesting of restricted common stock, with respect to the applicable column.

(2)Represents the remeasurement of FFO units issued during the year ended December 31, 2019 based on achievement of certain performance metrics over the performance period.

Summary of assumptions and fair values for restricted stock and options to purchase shares of Class A common stock granted


	2020			2019			2018
Fair value of FFO units and restricted stock granted	$56.84	-	$65.96	$42.01	-	$51.25	$34.03	-	$54.01
Fair value of TSR units granted			$79.18			$54.64			N/A
Fair value of options granted			$9.35	$7.56	-	$8.28	$5.55	-	$5.64
Expected term (years)			5.5			5.5	5.5	-	6.0
Expected volatility			27%			28%			28%
Expected dividend yield			3.31 %	3.89%	-	4.19%			4.82%
Expected risk-free interest rates			0.61 %	2.33 %	-	2.56 %	2.69 %	-	2.73 %

Summary of information about awards outstanding

The following tables summarize information about awards outstanding as of December 31, 2020.


	Operating Partnership Awards Outstanding
	Exercise prices		Awards outstanding	Weight average remaining vesting period (years)
Class O Units	$	25.00	75,435	—
Total Operating Partnership awards outstanding			75,435


	QTS Realty Trust, Inc. Awards Outstanding
	Exercise prices				Awards outstanding	Weight average remaining vesting period (years)
Restricted stock	$	—			416,496	1.0
TSR units	—				168,552	0.9
FFO units	—				132,267	0.7
Options to purchase Class A common stock	$	21.00	-	$56.84	1,936,407	0.9
Total QTS Realty Trust, Inc. awards outstanding					2,653,722

Schedule of quarterly cash dividends


Year Ended December 31, 2020
Record Date	Payment Date	Per Share Rate		Aggregate Dividend/Distribution Amount (in millions)
Common Stock
September 18, 2020	October 6, 2020	$	0.47	$	32.0
June 19, 2020	July 7, 2020	0.47		31.5
March 20, 2020	April 7, 2020	0.47		31.5
December 20, 2019	January 7, 2020	0.44		28.6
				$	123.6

Series A Preferred Stock
September 30, 2020	October 15, 2020	$	0.45	$	1.9
June 30, 2020	July 15, 2020	0.45		1.9
March 31, 2020	April 15, 2020	0.45		1.9
December 31, 2019	January 15, 2020	0.45		1.9
				$	7.6

Series B Preferred Stock
September 30, 2020	October 15, 2020	$	1.63	$	5.1
June 30, 2020	July 15, 2020	1.63		5.1
March 31, 2020	April 15, 2020	1.63		5.1
December 31, 2019	January 15, 2020	1.63		5.1
				$	20.4


Year Ended December 31, 2019
Record Date	Payment Date	Per Share Rate		Aggregate Dividend/Distribution Amount (in millions)
Common Stock
September 19, 2019	October 4, 2019	$	0.44	$	27.3
June 25, 2019	July 9, 2019	0.44		27.3
March 20, 2019	April 4, 2019	0.44		27.3
December 21, 2018	January 8, 2019	0.41		23.7
				$	105.6

Series A Preferred Stock
September 30, 2019	October 15, 2019	$	0.45	$	1.9
June 30, 2019	July 15, 2019	0.45		1.9
March 31, 2019	April 15, 2019	0.45		1.9
December 31, 2018	January 15, 2019	0.45		1.9
				$	7.6

Series B Preferred Stock
September 30, 2019	October 15, 2019	$	1.63	$	5.1
June 30, 2019	July 15, 2019	1.63		5.1
March 31, 2019	April 15, 2019	1.63		5.1
December 31, 2018	January 15, 2019	1.63		5.1
				$	20.4

Summary of equity issued

The following table represents a summary of our equity issuances of our Class A common stock during the year ended December 31, 2020 (in thousands):


Offering Program	Forward Shares Sold/(Settled)		Net Proceeds Available/(Received) (1)
Shares and net proceeds available as of December 31, 2019	3,795		$	173,776	(2)
February 2019 Offering - Settlement	(931)	(3)	(35,841)
June 2019 Prior ATM Program - Sales	4,550		243,577
June 2019 Prior ATM Program - Settlements	(4,981)	(3)	(250,496)
May 2020 Current ATM Program - Sales	3,128		189,640
June 2020 Offering - Sales	4,400		266,894
Shares and net proceeds available as of December 31, 2020	9,961		$	587,550

(1)Net Proceeds Available remain subject to certain adjustments until settled.

(2)Net Proceeds available reported in the Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2019 were $177.8 million. The $4 million decrease is primarily due to QTS’ declared dividends, which reduces cash expected to be received upon full physical settlement of the forward shares.

(3)Represents the number of forward shares we elected to physically settle during the year ended December 31, 2020.