Equity Awards

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Stock Options

The Company did not grant any stock option awards during the nine months ended September 30, 2019. Information related to stock options at September 30, 2019 is as follows:



	Number of Stock Options		Weighted Average Option Price		Average Remaining Contractual Life (Years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2019	206,854		$	13.19
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(56,854	)	0.86
Cancelled	—		—
Expired	—		—
Outstanding at September 30, 2019	150,000		$	17.87	6.8	$	1,917,000

As of September 30, 2019, 150,000 stock options outstanding were exercisable under the Company's long-term equity incentive plans. As of September 30, 2019, there was no unrecognized compensation cost related to stock options remaining.

The Company recognized a de minimis amount of stock-based compensation expense related to stock options during the three month periods ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, and recognized approximately $0.1 million and $0.2 million of stock-based compensation expense during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The stock-based compensation expense is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statement of income.

Restricted Stock Units

The Company awarded the following restricted stock units ("RSUs") during the nine months ended September 30, 2019:


•	granted 137,064 RSUs to certain employees, which are subject only to a service condition and vest ratably over three years so long as the employee remains with the Company; and


•	granted 25,872 RSUs to its non-employee independent directors, which vest one year from date of grant so long as the director and/or Company does not terminate the director's service prior to the vesting date.

In addition, the Company issued 3,590 RSUs related to director fee deferrals during the nine months ended September 30, 2019. The Company allows for its non-employee independent directors to make an annual election to defer all or a portion of their directors fees and to receive the deferred amount in cash or equity. Certain of the Company's directors have elected to defer all or a portion of their directors fees and to receive the amount in Company common stock at a future date.

During 2019, the Company awarded 95,882 performance-based RSUs to certain Company key employees which vest three years from the grant date as long as the employee remains with the Company. These awards are earned 50% based upon the Company's achievement of earnings per share compound annual growth rate ("EPS CAGR") metrics over a period beginning January 1, 2019 and ending December 31, 2021. The remaining 50% of the grants are earned based on the Company's total shareholder return ("TSR") relative to the TSR of the common stock of a pre-defined industry peer-group and measured over the performance period. TSR is calculated as the Company's average closing stock price for the 20-trading days at the end of the performance period plus Company dividends, divided by the Company's average closing stock price for the 20-trading days prior to the start of the performance period. The Company estimates the grant-date fair value subject to a market condition using a Monte Carlo simulation model, using the following weighted average assumptions: risk-free rate of 2.29% and annualized volatility of 26.7%. Depending on the performance achieved for these two metrics, the amount of shares earned, if any, can vary for each metric from 0% of the target award to a maximum of 200% of the target award.

During 2016, the Company awarded performance-based RSUs to certain Company key employees which were earned based upon the Company's TSR relative to the TSR of the common stock of a pre-defined industry peer-group and measured over a period beginning January 1, 2016 and ending on December 31, 2018. Depending on the performance achieved, the amount of shares earned could vary from 0% of the target award to a maximum of 200% of the target award. The Company attained 139.0% of the target on a weighted average basis, resulting in an increase of 38,315 shares during the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Information related to RSUs at September 30, 2019 is as follows:



	Number of Unvested RSUs		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Average Remaining Contractual Life (Years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2019	663,128		$	26.67
Granted	300,723		31.15
Vested	(298,903	)	22.26
Cancelled	(24,787	)	30.38
Outstanding at September 30, 2019	640,161		$	30.69	1.2	$	19,620,935

As of September 30, 2019, there was approximately $10.1 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested RSUs that is expected to be recorded over a weighted average period of 2.2 years.

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to RSUs of approximately $1.1 million and $1.7 million during the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively and approximately $4.1 million and $4.2 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The stock-based compensation expense is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statement of income.