STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

7.    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 September 30, 2023, there were 910,397 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 the Company’s fiscal year ending 2025. The Company evaluated the portions of the awards that are probable to vest and has accrued compensation expense at 100 percent of the target awards.

Stock-based employee compensation expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 was as follows:

	Three months ended				Nine months ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(in thousands)	2023		2022		2023		2022
Pre-tax expense	$	1,915	$	1,572	$	6,033	$	4,764
After tax expense	$	1,320	$	1,145	$	4,446	$	3,554

The following is a summary of the changes in non-vested restricted shares for the nine months ended September 30, 2023:

		Weighted Average
	Shares	Grant-Date Fair Value
Non-vested shares at January 1, 2023	3,248,728	$	6.87
Granted	1,235,728		9.50
Vested	(858,425)		8.60
Forfeited	(91,186)		7.71
Non-vested shares at September 30, 2023	3,534,845	$	7.35

The total fair value of shares vested was $7.8 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and $2.8 million during the nine months ended September 30, 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 $195 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and a detrimental adjustment of $655 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 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.