Note 2 - Equity Compensation Plans and Capital Stock

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Notes to Financial Statements

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Text Block]

2

.

EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS

AND CAPITAL STOCK

The Company maintains the Friedman Industries, Incorporated

2016

Restricted Stock Plan (the “Plan”). The Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee (the “Committee”) of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) and continues indefinitely until terminated by the Board or until all shares allowed by the Plan have been awarded and earned. The aggregate number of shares of the Company's Common Stock eligible for award under the Plan is

500,000

shares. Subject to the terms and provisions of the Plan, the Committee

may,

from time to time, select the employees, directors or consultants to whom awards will be granted and shall determine the amount and applicable restrictions of each award. Forfeitures are accounted for upon their occurrence.

The following table summarizes the activity related to restricted stock awards for the

two

years ended

March 31, 2021

:

				Weighted
				Average Grant
	Number of			Date Fair Value
	Shares			Per Share
Unvested at March 31, 2019		180,000		$	7.03
Cancelled or forfeited		—			—
Granted		90,000			5.05
Vested		—			—
Unvested at March 31, 2020		270,000		$	6.37
Cancelled or forfeited		—			—
Granted		89,625			5.64
Vested		(20,000	)		8.23
Unvested at March 31, 2021		339,625		$	6.07

Compensation expense is recognized over the requisite service period applicable to each award. The Company recorded compensation expense of

$527,671

 and

$332,944

 in fisca

l

2021

and fiscal 

2020

,

respectively, relating to the stock awards issued under the P

lan. As of

March 31, 2021

, unrecognized compensation expense related to stock awards was approximately

$866,000,

which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately

2.7

 years. As of

March 31, 2021

, a total of

140,375

shares were still available to be issued under the Plan. 

The Company has

1,000,000

authorized shares of Cumulative Preferred Stock with a par value of

$1

 per share. The stock

may

be issued in

one

or more series, and the Board of Directors is authorized to fix the designations, preferences, rights, qualifications, limitations and restrictions of each series, except that any series must provide for cumulative dividends and must be convertible into Common Stock. There were

no

shares of Cumulative Preferred Stock issued as of

March 31, 2021

or

March 31, 2020

.