Employee Stock Ownership Plan

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN

The Company maintains an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) to provide eligible employees the opportunity to own Company stock. This plan is a tax-qualified retirement plan for the benefit of Company employees. Contributions are allocated to eligible participants on the basis of compensation, subject to federal tax limits. The number of shares committed to be released per year is 75,912 through 2043. Shares held by the ESOP include the following:



	March 31, 2018	December 31, 2017

Allocated	295,774	219,860
Committed to be allocated	18,718	75,912
Unallocated	1,954,979	1,973,699
	2,269,471	2,269,471

The fair value of unallocated shares was $40.8 million and $39.7 million at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively.

Total compensation expense recognized in connection with the ESOP for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 was $378,000 and $341,000, respectively.