STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

5.    STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

In April 2014, the Company reserved 8,000,000 shares of common stock under the 2014 Stock Incentive Plan with a term of 10 years expiring in April 2024. This plan provides for the issuance of various forms of stock incentives, including, among others incentive and non-qualified stock options and restricted shares. As of March 31, 2023, there were 906,053 shares available for grant.

In the first quarter of 2023, the Company issued time-lapse restricted shares to certain employees that will vest ratably over a period of four years. In addition, the Company granted performance share unit awards to its executive officers and certain other employees that vest based on the achievement of pre-established financial performance targets and relative total shareholder return performance. The awards will be issued at different levels based on the performance achieved with a cliff vesting at the end of fiscal year ending 2025. The Company evaluated the portion of the award that are probable to vest and has accrued compensation expense at 100 percent of the target award.

Stock-based employee compensation expense for both the time-lapse restricted shares and performance share unit awards was as follows:

	Three months ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2023		2022
Pre-tax expense	$	1,802	$	1,497
After tax expense	$	1,382	$	1,130

The following is a summary of the changes in non-vested restricted shares for the three months ended March 31, 2023:

		Weighted Average
	Shares	Grant-Date Fair Value
Non-vested shares at January 1, 2023	3,248,728	$	6.87
Granted	1,180,400		9.60
Vested	(803,264)		8.69
Forfeited	(31,514)		8.84
Non-vested shares at March 31, 2023	3,594,350	$	7.35

The total fair value of shares vested was $7.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and $2.8 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022. Excess tax benefits or deficits realized from tax compensation deductions in excess of, or lower than, compensation expense are recorded as either a beneficial or detrimental discrete income tax adjustment. This was a favorable adjustment of $133 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and a detrimental adjustment of $669 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The table above does not include any of the activity related to performance share unit awards since they are not currently issued or vested.