Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity

Note 10. Stockholders’ Equity

Registration Rights Agreement

On September 18, 2020, in connection with the Company’s emergence from Chapter 11 proceedings, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with certain former beneficial holders of second lien notes of the Predecessor that entered into the restructuring support agreement leading to the restructuring of the Company pursuant to a prepackaged plan of reorganization and pursuant to which the Company included these holders’ shares of common stock of the Successor in an automatically effective resale registration statement filed with the SEC in April 2021 for their use in connection with resale of these shares. Under the Registration Rights Agreement, these security holders have customary demand and piggyback registration rights, subject to the limitations set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement. These registration rights are subject to certain conditions and limitations, including the right of the underwriters to limit the number of shares to be included in an offering and the Company’s right to delay or withdraw a registration statement under certain circumstances.

401(k) Plan

We offer a 401(k) plan to which employees may contribute earnings subject to IRS limitations.  We match 100% of an employee’s contribution, up to 6% of compensation, as defined by the plan, which is vested immediately.  Matching contributions to the 401(k) plan totaled $5.8 million during 2022, $5.1 million during 2021, $1.1 million for the period September 19, 2020 through December 31, 2020 (Successor), and $4.4 million for the period January 1, 2020 through September 18, 2020 (Predecessor).

Share Repurchase Program

In early May 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a common share repurchase program for up to $250 million of outstanding Denbury common stock. During June and July 2022, the Company repurchased 1,615,356 shares of Denbury common stock under this program for approximately $100 million, at an average price of $61.92 per share. In August 2022, the Board increased Denbury’s stock repurchase authorization by $100 million, thus a total of $250 million of common stock currently remains authorized for future repurchases under this program. The program has no pre-established ending date and may be suspended or discontinued at any time. The Company is not obligated to repurchase any dollar amount or specific number of shares of its common stock under the program.

Retirement of Treasury Stock

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we retired 1.6 million shares of existing treasury stock, with a carrying value of $100.0 million, acquired primarily through our stock repurchase program. Upon the retirement of treasury stock, we reduce common stock by the par value of common stock retired, and we reduce additional paid-in capital by the value of those shares in excess of par value.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan – Successor

On June 1, 2022, the Company’s stockholders approved the Denbury Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan authorizing the sale of up to 2,000,000 shares of common stock thereunder. In accordance with the ESPP, full-time employees may contribute up to 10% of their base salary, subject to certain limitations, to purchase previously unissued Denbury common stock. Participants in the ESPP may purchase common stock at a 15% discount to the fair market value of a share of common stock determined as the lower of the closing sales price on the first or last trading day of each offering period. The first offering period under the ESPP commenced on September 1, 2022 and ended on December 31, 2022 for which the Company issued 7,604 shares. The plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors.