14. ACCOUNTING FOR STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

The Company maintains the Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. 2001 Stock Option Plan for Outside Directors, Officers and Employees, the 2004 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2013 Equity and Incentive Plan (“2013 Equity Plan”) (collectively, the "Stock Plans"), which are discussed more fully in Note 18 to the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, and which are subject to the accounting requirements of ASC 505-50 and ASC 718.

Stock Option Awards

The following table presents a summary of activity related to stock options granted under the Stock Plans, and changes during the period then ended:

	Number of Options			Weighted-Average Exercise Price		Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Years		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Options outstanding at January 1, 2018		157,546		$	15.53
Options granted		-			-
Options exercised		(28,771	)	$	16.38
Options outstanding at March 31, 2018		128,775		$	15.34		1.6	$	394
Options vested and exercisable at March 31, 2018		128,775		$	15.34		1.6	$	394

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2018, the cost of one exercise of 10,000 stock options was satisfied by 9,045 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $18.18. These shares were returned to Treasury Stock.

Information related to stock options during each period is as follows:

	At or for the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018		2017
Cash received for option exercise cost	$	290	$	624
Income tax benefit recognized on stock option exercises		4		69
Intrinsic value of options exercised		97		275

There were no grants of stock options during the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 or 2017. All stock options are fully vested at both March 31, 2018 and 2017.

Restricted Stock Awards

The Company has made restricted stock award grants to outside Directors and certain officers under the Stock Plans. Typically, awards to outside Directors fully vest on the first anniversary of the grant date, while awards to officers may vest in equal annual installments over a four-year period or at the end of the four-year requisite period. All awards were made at the fair value of Common Stock on the grant date. Compensation expense on all restricted stock awards are based upon the fair value of the shares on the respective dates of the grant.

The following table presents a summary of activity related to the RSAs granted, and changes during the period then ended:

	Number of Shares			Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Unvested allocated shares outstanding at January 1, 2018		150,567		$	18.85
Shares granted		-			-
Shares vested		(4,752	)		20.13
Shares forfeited		(2,014	)		19.39
Unvested allocated shares at March 31, 2018		143,801		$	18.80

Information related to restricted stock awards during each period is as follows:

	At or for the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018			2017
Compensation expense recognized	$	304		$	297
Income tax benefit (expense) recognized on vesting of restricted stock awards		(2	)		2
Weighted average remaining years for which compensation expense is to be recognized		2.7			1.6

Performance Based Equity Awards

The Company established the LTIP, a long term incentive award program for certain officers, which meets the criteria for equity-based accounting. For each award, threshold (50% of target), target (100% of target) and maximum (150% of target) opportunities are eligible to be earned over a three-year performance period based on the Company's relative performance on certain goals that were established at the onset of the performance period and cannot be altered subsequently. Shares of Common Stock are issued on the grant date and held as unvested stock awards until the end of the performance period. They are issued at the maximum opportunity in order to ensure that an adequate number of shares are allocated for shares expected to vest at the end of the performance period.

The following table presents a summary of activity related to performance based equity awards, and changes during the three-month period then ended:

	Number of Shares			Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Maximum aggregate share payout at January 1, 2018		69,224		$	19.19
Shares granted		81,353			18.55
Shares vested		(3,536	)		18.83
Shares forfeited		(6,320	)		19.19
Maximum aggregate share payout at March 31, 2018		140,721		$	18.83
Minimum aggregate share payout		-			-
Expected aggregate share payout		93,813		$	18.83

Compensation expense recorded for performance based equity awards was $84 and $97 for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.