EQUITY

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

EQUITY

EQUITY

12. EQUITY

Common Stock

The Company has paid quarterly dividends on its common stock since January 1999.

Treasury Stock

On September 19, 2016, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $50.0 million of its common stock, from time to time, on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions (the “2016 Repurchase Plan”). As of December 31, 2019, the Company has $37.5 million available to be repurchased under the 2016 Repurchase Plan.

During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Company repurchased the following shares under the 2016 Repurchase Plan:

	Shares	Aggregate Cost		Average
Year ended December 31,	Repurchased	(in thousands)		Repurchase Price
2019	3,104	$	162	$	52.37
2018	30,427		1,577		51.82
2017	201,932		10,636		52.67

During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the Company repurchased the following shares from employees to satisfy tax withholding and stock options exercise obligations incurred in connection with the vesting of restricted stock awards and the exercise of stock options:

		Aggregate
	Shares	Cost		Average
Year ended December 31,	Repurchased	(in thousands)		Repurchase Price
2019	42,703	$	2,419	$	56.65
2018	141,180		10,859		76.76
2017	32,814		2,348		72.50

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company reserved 2,000,000 shares for the grant of stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, stock equivalents and awards of shares of common stock that are not subject to restrictions or forfeiture. As of December 31, 2019, the Company has approximately 723,000 shares available for grants.

Stock Options

Stock options have a term of ten years and vest annually and ratably over a period of four years.

The following table summarizes stock option activity for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018:

	Year Ended December 31, 2019
				Weighted Average
				Remaining
	Number of	Weighted Avg.		Contractual	Aggregate
	Options	Exercise Price		Term (Years)	Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2019	42,000	$	48.61
Granted	—		—
Forfeited	(7,500)		52.97
Expired	(2,500)		52.97
Exercised	(17,000)		45.39
Outstanding at December 31, 2019	15,000		49.34	3.2	$	170,900
Vested and expected to vest at December 31, 2019	15,000		49.34	3.2	$	170,900
Exercisable at December 31, 2019	15,000		49.34	3.2	$	170,900

	Year Ended December 31, 2018
				Weighted Average
				Remaining
	Number of	Weighted Avg.		Contractual	Aggregate
	Options	Exercise Price		Term (Years)	Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2018	200,021	$	41.76
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(158,021)		39.95
Outstanding at December 31, 2018	42,000		48.61	4.1	$	823,515
Vested and expected to vest at December 31, 2018	42,000		48.61	4.1	$	962,840
Exercisable at December 31, 2018	33,250		46.76	3.0	$	823,515

The following table summarizes information relating to options granted and exercised during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands, except fair value of options granted data):

	2019		2018		2017
Weighted-average fair value of options granted	$	—	$	—	$	13.77
Aggregate intrinsic value of options exercised		229		5,927		936
Cash proceeds received upon exercise of options		—		72		1,030
Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation		—		—		—

The aggregate intrinsic value represents the total pre-tax intrinsic value (the difference between the Company’s closing common stock price on December 31st and the exercise price, multiplied by the number of the in-the-money stock options) that would have been received by the stock option holders had all stock options holders exercised their stock options on December 31st. The amount of aggregate intrinsic value will change based on the fair market value of the Company’s common stock.

The estimated fair value of the options granted during the year ended December 31, 2017 was determined using a Black Scholes option pricing model, based on the following weighted average assumptions:

	2017
Risk-free interest rate	1.79	%
Expected dividend yield	1.28	%
Expected life	4.00	years
Expected volatility	34.01	%

The Company did not grant any options during the years ended December 31, 2019 or 2018. The Company did not recognize any compensation expense related to granted options in 2019 and recognized $0.1 of stock compensation expense during 2018 and 2017.

Restricted Stock

Restricted stock issued under the 2008 Equity Investment Plan vests over four years.

The following table summarizes restricted stock activity during the year ended December 31, 2019:

		Weighted Avg.
	Shares	Fair Value
Unvested as of January 1, 2019	200,653	$	65.21
Granted	108,278		54.68
Forfeited	(18,579)		57.04
Vested and issued	(86,206)		65.77
Unvested as of December 31, 2019	204,146	$	60.13

The following table summarizes restricted stock activity during the year ended December 31, 2018:

		Weighted Avg.
	Shares	Fair Value
Unvested as of January 1, 2018	214,938	$	68.62
Granted	111,474		59.52
Forfeited	(31,327)		66.53
Vested and issued	(94,432)		66.27
Unvested as of December 31, 2018	200,653	$	65.21

In connection with the grant of restricted shares, the Company recognized $6.4 million, $6.1 million and $6.6 million of compensation expense within its income statements for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively. In addition, the Company recognized $0.2 million and $0.3 million of compensation expense within its income statement for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, for shares of the Company’s subsidiaries granted to the management team of those subsidiaries.

The unvested shares as of December 31, 2019 represent $8.2 million in unamortized stock based compensation which will be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.4 years.