NOTE 15 — STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS

Pursuant to the Company’s 1998 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended, the Company issues stock options, RSAs and RSUs to employees. An aggregate of 11.0 million shares of common stock were authorized under the 1998 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended, and the total number available for grant was approximately 3.0 million as of December 31, 2015.

The following table summarizes the total share-based compensation expense and the related net tax benefit associated with its various employee share-based compensation plans for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013:




($ in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Compensation expense related to RSAs and RSUs	$	16,502	$	13,883	$	13,531
Net tax benefit recognized in equity for stock compensation plans	$	3,291	$	6,513	$	5,522

Stock Options — The Company issues stock options to certain employees, officers and directors. Stock options are issued at the current market price on the date of grant. No options have been granted since 2011. As of December 31, 2014, the Company had 42,116 stock options outstanding that were vested and exercisable at a weighted average exercise price of $20.75. These options had a four-year vesting period and contractual term of seven years. During 2015, all outstanding stock options have been fully exercised and there were no outstanding options as of December 31, 2015.

The following table presents information related to stock options for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013:




($ in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Cash proceeds from options exercised	$	874	$	4,937	$	1,680
Net tax benefit recognized from options exercised	$	320	$	1,398	$	48
Total intrinsic value of options exercised	$	760	$	3,546	$	926
Total fair value of options vested	N/A		N/A		$	363

RSAs and RSUs — RSAs and RSUs are granted under our long-term incentive plan at no cost to the recipient. RSAs vest ratably over three years, cliff vest after three years, or vest at a rate of 50% each at the fourth and fifth year of continued employment from the date of the grant. RSUs vest ratably over three years or cliff vest after three or five years of continued employment from the date of the grant. The restricted stock entitles the recipient to receive cash dividends equivalent to any dividends paid on the underlying common stock during the period the restricted stock is outstanding and, as such, are considered participating securities as discussed in Note 17 — Stockholders’ Equity and Earnings Per Share to the Consolidated Financial Statements. All RSAs have vested as of December 31, 2015. While a portion of the RSAs and RSUs are time-vesting awards, others vest subject to the attainment of specified performance goals. All RSAs and RSUs are subject to forfeiture until vested.

The following table presents a summary of the activity for the Company’s time-based RSAs and RSUs, and performance-based RSUs during the year ended December 31, 2015 based on the target amount of awards:




	2015
	RSAs and RSUs
	Time-Based				Performance-Based
	Shares		Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value		Shares		Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Outstanding at beginning of year	751,020		$	30.61	400,508		$	27.51
Granted	477,417		40.36		133,295		41.15
Vested	(225,566	)	23.65		(144,445	)	22.05
Forfeited	(69,559	)	36.64		—		—
Outstanding at end of year	933,312		$	36.83	389,358		$	34.21

The weighted average fair values of the time-based awards granted during 2015, 2014 and 2013 were $40.36, $36.59 and $25.82, respectively. The weighted average fair value of the performance-based awards granted during the year ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 were $41.15, $36.85 and $25.25, respectively. The total fair value of time-based awards that vested during 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $9.1 million, $21.6 million and $24.7 million, respectively. The total fair value of performance-based awards that vested during 2015, 2014 and 2013 was $5.8 million, $3.1 million and $1.7 million, respectively.

Compensation expense for the Company’s time-based awards is based on the quoted market price of the related stock at the grant date. Performance-based awards granted that include discretionary performance based vesting conditions are subject to variable accounting. As of December 31, 2015, total unrecognized compensation cost related to time-based and performance-based RSAs amounted to $23.3 million and $10.0 million, respectively. This cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.92 years and 1.78 years, respectively.

Stock Purchase Plan — The 1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Purchase Plan”) provides eligible employees of the Company the right to purchase shares of its common stock at a discount. Employees could purchase shares at 90% of the fair market price subject to an annual purchase limitation of $22,500 per employee. As of December 31, 2015, the Purchase Plan qualifies as a non-compensatory plan under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code and, accordingly, no compensation expense has been recognized. 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock have been made available for sale under the Purchase Plan. During 2015 and 2014, 55,485 shares totaling $2.0 million and 58,587 shares totaling $1.9 million, respectively, have been sold to employees under the Purchase Plan. As of December 31, 2015, there were 639,228 shares available under the Purchase Plan.