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Stock-based Compensation
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Stock-based Compensation  
Stock-based Compensation

Note 10.  Stock-based Compensation

On May 7, 2014, the stockholders of the Company approved the Air Lease Corporation 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan”). Upon approval of the 2014 Plan, no new awards may be granted under the Amended and Restated 2010 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2010 Plan”). As of September 30, 2019, the number of stock options (“Stock Options”) and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) remaining under the 2014 Plan was approximately 5,282,848, which includes 282,848 shares which were previously reserved for issuance under the 2010 Plan. Stock Options are generally granted for a term of 10 years and generally vest ratably over a three-year period. The Company has issued RSUs with four different vesting criteria: those RSUs that vest based on the attainment of book value goals, those RSUs that vest based on the attainment of Total Shareholder Return (“TSR”) goals, time based RSUs that vest ratably over a time period of three years and RSUs that cliff-vest at the end of a one- or two-year period. The Company has two types of book value RSUs; those that vest ratably over a three-year period if the performance condition has been met, and those that cliff-vest at the end of a three-year period if the performance condition has been met. For the book value RSUs that cliff-vest at the end of a three-year period, the number of shares that will ultimately vest will range from 0% to 200% of the RSUs initially granted depending on the percentage change in the Company’s book value per share at the end of the vesting period. At each reporting period, the Company reassesses the probability of the performance condition being achieved and a stock-based compensation expense is recognized based upon management’s assessment. Book value RSUs for which the performance metric has not been met are forfeited. The TSR RSUs cliff-vest at the end of a three-year period. The number of TSR RSUs that will ultimately vest is based upon the percentile ranking of the Company’s TSR among a peer group. The number of shares that will ultimately vest will range from 0% to 200% of the RSUs initially granted depending on the extent to which the TSR metric is achieved.

The Company recorded $4.9 million and $4.8 million of stock-based compensation expense related to RSUs for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The Company recorded $14.9 million and $13.2 million of stock-based compensation expense related to RSUs for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Stock Options

A summary of stock option activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 follows:

    

    

    

Remaining

    

Aggregate

Exercise

Contractual Term

Intrinsic Value

    

Shares

    

Price

    

(in years)

    

(in thousands)(1)

Balance at December 31, 2018

 

2,620,295

$

20.40

 

1.49

 

$

25,697

Granted

 

$

 

$

Exercised

 

(1,603,139)

$

20.00

 

 

$

29,909

Forfeited/canceled

 

$

 

 

$

Balance at September 30, 2019

 

1,017,156

$

21.04

 

0.80

 

$

21,138

Vested and exercisable as of September 30, 2019

 

1,017,156

$

21.04

 

0.80

 

$

21,138

(1)The aggregate intrinsic value is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the underlying awards and the closing stock price of our Class A common stock as of the respective date.

As of September 30, 2019, all of the Company’s outstanding employee stock options had fully vested and there were no unrecognized compensation costs related to outstanding stock options as of September 30, 2019. As a result, there was no stock-based compensation expense related to Stock Options for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018.

The following table summarizes additional information regarding exercisable and vested stock options at September 30, 2019:

Stock Options Exercisable

and Vested

    

    

Weighted-

Average

Number of

Remaining Life

Range of exercise prices

Shares

 

(in years)

$20.00

 

897,156

 

0.69

$28.80

 

120,000

 

1.57

$20.00 - $28.80

 

1,017,156

 

0.80

Restricted Stock Units

Compensation cost for stock awards is measured at the grant date based on fair value and recognized over the vesting period. The fair value of time based and book value RSUs is determined based on the closing market price of the Company’s Class A common stock on the date of grant, while the fair value of TSR RSUs is determined at the grant date using a Monte Carlo simulation model. Included in the Monte Carlo simulation model were certain assumptions regarding a number of highly complex and subjective variables, such as expected volatility, risk-free interest rate and expected dividends. To appropriately value the award, the risk-free interest rate is estimated for the time period from the valuation date until the vesting date and the historical volatilities were estimated based on a historical timeframe equal to the time from the valuation date until the end date of the performance period.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company granted 670,279 RSUs of which 139,895 are TSR RSUs. The following table summarizes the activities for our unvested RSUs for the nine months ended September 30, 2019:

Unvested Restricted Stock Units

Weighted-Average

Number of

Grant-Date

    

Shares

     

Fair Value

Unvested at December 31, 2018

 

1,055,325

$

41.66

Granted

 

670,279

$

39.64

Vested

 

(271,037)

$

34.58

Forfeited/canceled

 

(202,621)

$

32.40

Unvested at September 30, 2019

 

1,251,946

$

43.62

Expected to vest after September 30, 2019

 

1,341,575

$

43.45

As of September 30, 2019, there was $29.2 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested stock-based payments granted to employees. Total unrecognized compensation cost will be recognized over a weighted-average remaining period of 1.86 years.