SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION AWARDS

The Company utilizes share-based awards under employee and non-employee director compensation programs. These share-based awards may include restricted and unrestricted stock, restricted stock units, stock options, and performance shares. In first quarter 2016 and 2015, $13 million and $11 million, respectively, of compensation expense before tax were recognized in "Selling, general and administrative expense" in the Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Earnings for all share-based awards of which $3 million in both periods related to stock options. The compensation expense is recognized over the substantive vesting period, which may be a shorter time period than the stated vesting period for qualifying termination eligible employees as defined in the forms of award notice. For both first quarter 2016 and 2015, $2 million of stock option compensation expense was recognized due to qualifying termination eligibility preceding the requisite vesting period. The impact on first quarter 2016 and 2015 net earnings of $8 million and $7 million, respectively, is net of deferred tax expense related to share-based award compensation for each period.

Stock Option Grants

In first quarter 2016 and 2015, the number of stock options granted under the 2012 Omnibus Stock Compensation Plan were approximately 550,000 and 500,000, respectively. Options have an exercise price equal to the closing price of the Company's stock on the date of grant. The term of options is 10 years with vesting periods that vary up to three years. Vesting usually occurs ratably over the vesting period or at the end of the vesting period. The Company utilizes the Black Scholes Merton option valuation model which relies on certain assumptions to estimate an option's fair value.

The assumptions used in the determination of fair value for stock options granted in first quarter 2016 and 2015 are provided in the table below:



	First Quarter
Assumptions	2016	2015
Expected volatility rate	23.71%	24.11%
Expected dividend yield	2.31%	1.75%
Average risk-free interest rate	1.23%	1.45%
Expected forfeiture rate	0.75%	0.75%
Expected term years	5.0	4.8

The grant date exercise price and fair value of options granted during first quarter 2016 were $65.16 and $10.97, respectively, and during first quarter 2015 were $74.46 and $13.89, respectively.

For options unvested at March 31, 2016, $6 million in compensation expense will be recognized over the next three years.

Other Share-Based Compensation Awards

In addition to stock option grants, the Company has awarded long-term performance share awards, restricted stock and restricted stock unit awards, and stock appreciation rights. The long-term performance share awards are based upon actual return on capital compared to a target return on capital and total stockholder return compared to a peer group ranking by total stockholder return over a three year performance period. The awards are valued using a Monte Carlo Simulation based model and vest pro-ratably over the three year performance period. The number of long-term performance share target awards during first quarter 2016 and 2015 for the 2016-2018 and 2015-2017 periods were approximately 400,000 and 300,000, respectively. The target shares awarded are assumed to be 100 percent. At the end of the three-year performance period, the actual number of shares awarded can range from zero percent to 250 percent of the target shares based on the award notice. The number of restricted stock unit awards during first quarter 2016 and 2015 were approximately 160,000 and 200,000, respectively. The fair value of a restricted stock unit award is equal to the closing stock price of the Company's stock on the award date and normally vests over a period of three years. In first quarter 2016 and 2015, $10 million and $8 million, respectively, was recognized as compensation expense before tax for these other share-based awards and was included in the total compensation expense noted above for all share-based awards. The unrecognized compensation expense before tax for these same type awards at March 31, 2016 was $73 million and will be recognized primarily over a period of three years.

For additional information regarding share-based compensation plans and awards, see Note 18, "Share-Based Compensation Plans and Awards", to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of the Company's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K.