NOTE 14 — STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS

Pursuant to the Company’s 2016 Stock Incentive Plan, the Company may issue stock options, RSAs, RSUs, stock appreciation rights, stock purchase warrants, phantom stock and dividend equivalents to certain employees and non-employee directors of the Company and its subsidiaries. An aggregate of 14.0 million shares of common stock were authorized under the 2016 Stock Incentive Plan, and the total number available for grant was approximately 5.4 million as of December 31, 2016.

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, 2016, 2015 and 2014:




($ in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)	2016		2015		2014
Stock compensation costs	$	22,102	$	16,502	$	13,883
Net tax benefit recognized in equity for stock compensation plans	$	1,055	$	3,291	$	6,513

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. The 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 and December 31, 2016.

The following table presents information related to stock options for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:




($ in thousands)	Year Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)	2016		2015		2014
Cash proceeds from options exercised	$	—	$	874	$	4,937
Net tax benefit recognized from options exercised	$	—	$	320	$	1,398
Total intrinsic value of options exercised	$	—	$	760	$	3,546

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. RSAs and RSUs entitle the recipient to receive cash dividends equivalent to any dividends paid on the underlying common stock during the period the RSAs and RSUs are outstanding. The RSAs have non-forfeitable rights to dividends or dividend equivalents and, as such, are considered participating securities as discussed in Note 1 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to the Consolidated Financial Statements. During 2015, all RSAs have vested and there were no outstanding RSAs as of December 31, 2016. 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 and performance-based RSUs during the year ended December 31, 2016 based on the target amount of awards:




	2016
	Time-Based RSUs				Performance-Based RSUs
	Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at beginning of year	933,312		$	36.83	389,358		$	34.21
Granted	529,385		31.86		159,407		29.18
Vested	(125,608	)	25.78		(138,019	)	25.25
Forfeited	(118,375	)	35.80		—		—
Outstanding at end of year	1,218,714		$	35.92	410,746		$	35.27

The weighted average fair values of the time-based awards granted during 2016, 2015 and 2014 were $31.86, $40.36 and $36.59, respectively. The weighted average fair value of the performance-based awards granted during the year ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 were $29.18, $41.15 and $36.85, respectively. The total fair value of time-based awards that vested during 2016, 2015 and 2014 was $4.2 million, $9.1 million and $21.6 million, respectively. The total fair value of performance-based awards that vested during 2016, 2015 and 2014 was $4.4 million, $5.8 million and $3.1 million, respectively.

Compensation costs for the time-based awards are based on the quoted market price of the Company’s stock at the grant date. Compensation costs for performance-based awards are based on the grant date fair value of the performance-based awards which considers both market and performance conditions. The associated compensation expense of the performance-based awards fluctuates with the estimated outcome of meeting the performance condition, where the total amount of compensation expense recognized on these awards will be finalized upon vesting of such awards.

Compensation costs of both time-based and performance-based awards are recognized on a straight-line basis from the grant date until the vesting date of each grant. As of December 31, 2016, total unrecognized compensation cost related to time-based and performance-based RSUs amounted to $21.9 million and $9.6 million, respectively. This cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.84 years and 1.71 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, 2016, 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 2016 and 2015, 67,198 shares totaling $2.1 million and 55,485 shares totaling $2.0 million, respectively, have been sold to employees under the Purchase Plan. As of December 31, 2016, there were 572,030 shares available under the Purchase Plan.