Equity

Voting Rights

The holders of Class A Common stock (“Class A Stock”) and Class B Common stock (“Class B Stock”) have identical rights except that holders of Class A Stock are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B Stock are entitled to ten votes per share on all matters to be voted on by shareholders in general. Holders of each share class, however, are not eligible to vote on matters relating exclusively to the other share class.

Stock Award and Incentive Plan

The Company maintains one stock award and incentive plan (the “Plan”) approved by the shareholders on May 3, 2016, which is designed to provide incentives to attract and retain individuals key to the success of AC through direct or indirect ownership of our common stock. Benefits under the Plan may be granted in any one or a combination of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock awards, dividend equivalents and other stock or cash-based awards. A maximum of 2 million shares of Class A Stock have been reserved for issuance under the Plan by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Compensation Committee”) which is responsible for administering the Plan. Under the Plan, the Compensation Committee may grant RSAs and either incentive or nonqualified stock options with a term not to exceed ten years from the grant date and at an exercise price that it may determine. Through December 31, 2019, approximately 700,000 shares have been awarded under the Plan leaving approximately 1.3 million shares for future grants.

On November 30, 2015, in connection with the Spin-off, the Company issued 554,100 AC RSA shares to GAMCO employees (including GAMCO employees who became AC employees) who held 554,100 GAMCO RSA shares at that date. The purpose of the issuance was to ensure that any employee who had GAMCO RSAs were granted an equal number of AC RSAs so that the total value of the RSAs post-spin-off was equivalent to the total value pre-spin-off. In accordance with GAAP, we have allocated the stock compensation costs of both the AC RSAs and the GAMCO RSAs between GAMCO and AC based upon the allocation of each employee’s responsibilities between the companies. During 2017, the vesting of all of the outstanding AC RSAs and all but 19,400 GAMCO RSAs was accelerated, and they are no longer outstanding. Similarly, the vesting of the GAMCO RSAs outstanding as of December 31, 2017 was accelerated in the first quarter of 2018.

There were no RSAs outstanding as of December 31, 2019 or 2018.

In August and December 2018, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the grant of 172,800 shares of Phantom Restricted Stock awards (“Phantom RSAs”). Under the terms of the grants, which were effective August 8 and December 31 of 2018, the Phantom RSAs vest 30% and 70% after three and five years, respectively. The Phantom RSAs will be settled by a cash payment, net of applicable withholding tax, on the vesting dates. In addition, an amount equivalent to the cumulative dividends declared on shares of the Company’s Class A common stock during the vesting period will be paid to participants on vesting.

Pursuant to ASC 718, the Phantom RSAs are treated as a liability because cash settlement is required and compensation will be recognized over the vesting period. In determining the compensation expense to be recognized each period, the Company will re-measure the fair value of the liability at each reporting date taking into account the remaining vesting period attributable to each award and the current market value of the Company’s Class A stock. In making these determinations, the Company will consider the impact of Phantom RSAs that have been forfeited prior to vesting (e.g., due to an employee termination). The Company has elected to consider forfeitures as they occur. Based on the closing price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock on December 31, 2019 and 2018, the total liability recorded by the Company in compensation payable as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, with respect to the Phantom RSAs was $2.0 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded approximately $1.4 million and $0.7 million in stock-based compensation expense, respectively. This expense is included in compensation expense in the consolidated statements of income.

As of December 31, 2019, there were 119,650 Phantom RSAs outstanding. The unrecognized compensation expense related to these was $3.9 million which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2 years. As of December 31, 2018, there were 170,300 Phantom RSAs outstanding and $5.4 million unrecognized compensation expense.

Stock Repurchase Program

In 2019, the Company repurchased 0.1 million shares at an average price of $37.62 per share for a total investment of $4.1 million. In 2018, the Company repurchased 0.2 million shares at an average price of $37.52 per share for a total investment of $7.0 million.

Exchange Offers

In February 2018, AC completed an exchange offer with respect to its Class A shares. Tendering shareholders received 1.35 GAMCO Class A shares for each AC Class A share, together with cash in lieu of any fractional share. Upon completion of the offer, shareholders tendered 493,954 Class A shares in exchange for 666,805 GAMCO Class A shares with a value of $17.7 million.

In October 2018, the Company completed an exchange offer with respect to its Class A shares. Tendering shareholders received 1.9 GAMCO Class A shares for each AC Class A share, together with cash in lieu of any fractional share. Upon completion of the offer, shareholders tendered 373,581 shares in exchange for 709,749 GAMCO shares with a value of approximately $14.6 million.

Dividends

During 2019, the Company declared dividends of $0.20 per share to class A and class B shareholders totaling $4.5 million, of which $2.3 million is payable on January 9, 2020 and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated statement of financial condition as of December 31, 2019.

During 2018, the Company declared dividends of $0.20 per share to class A and class B shareholders totaling $4.6 million, of which $2.3 million was paid on January 9, 2019 and is included in accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated statements of financial condition as of December 31, 2018.