Equity Incentive Plan

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

The Company’s 2017 Equity Incentive Plan, or the Plan, permits the granting of restricted common stock, phantom shares, or restricted stock units, both non-performance based, or RSUs, and performance-based, or PSUs, dividend equivalent rights and other equity-based awards to employees, directors, officers, advisors, consultants and other personnel. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had 2,022,780 shares of common stock available for future issuance under the Plan.

The Company accounts for equity-based awards under ASC 718 - Compensation - Stock Compensation, which requires the Company to expense the cost of services received in exchange for equity-based awards based on the grant-date fair value of the awards. This expense is recognized ratably over the requisite service period following the date of grant. The fair value of awards of the Company’s restricted common stock and RSUs is typically equivalent to the closing stock price on the grant date. The unrecognized compensation cost relating to such awards is recognized as an expense over the awards’ remaining vesting periods.

As of March 31, 2022, there was $0.5 million of total unrecognized compensation cost for awards of restricted common stock that will be recognized over the grants’ remaining weighted average vesting period of 1.1 years. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recognized $0.2 million of compensation expense associated with these awards, compared to $0.8 million for three months ended March 31, 2021, within compensation and benefits expense on the condensed consolidated statements of income.

As of March 31, 2022, there was $9.7 million of total unrecognized compensation cost for awards of RSUs that will be recognized over the grants’ remaining weighted average vesting period of 1.9 years. For three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recognized $1.3 million of compensation expense associated with these awards, compared to $0.8 million for three months ended March 31, 2021, within compensation and benefits expense on the condensed consolidated statements of income.

Awards of PSUs have a three-year cliff vesting with the number of performance-based stock units vesting at the end of the three-year period based upon the Company’s absolute and relative “core” return on average equity, or Core ROAE, performance, as set in the applicable award agreements. More specifically, between 0% and 200% of the target number of units may vest at the end of the performance period based (i) 50% against the predetermined internal Company performance goal for Core ROAE and (ii) 50% against the Company’s performance ranking for Core ROAE among a group of commercial mortgage REIT peer companies. The commercial mortgage REIT peer group includes publicly traded commercial mortgage REITs, which the Company believes derive the majority of their revenues from commercial real estate balance sheet lending activities and meet certain market capitalization criteria.

As of March 31, 2022, there was $7.0 million of total unrecognized compensation cost for awards of PSUs that will be recognized over the grants’ remaining weighted average vesting period of 1.8 years. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recognized $0.7 million of compensation expense associated with these awards, compared to $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, within compensation and benefits expenses on the condensed consolidated statements of income.

The following table summarizes the grants, vesting and forfeitures of restricted common stock, RSUs and PSUs for the three months ended March 31, 2022:


	Restricted Stock	RSUs	PSUs	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Market Value

















Outstanding at December 31, 2021	264,662	933,283	347,896	$	12.48
Granted	—	463,292	312,538	$	11.84
Vested	(103,038)	(173,181)	—	$	13.16
Forfeited	(69,039)	—	—	$	18.87
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	92,585	1,223,394	660,434	$	11.92

Below is a summary of restricted stock, RSU and PSU vesting dates as of March 31, 2022:



Vesting Year	Restricted Stock	RSUs	PSUs	Total Awards
2022	—	44,853	—	44,853
2023	92,585	327,610	347,896	768,091
2024	—	327,625	312,538	640,163
2025	—	523,306	—	523,306

Total	92,585	1,223,394	660,434	1,976,413