Stock-Based Compensation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company has several stock-based compensation plans under which it is currently authorized to grant restricted stock and other stock awards. As of December 31, 2017, there were 5.1 million remaining shares available to grant under these plans. The Company generally purchases shares on the open market for non-employee director stock awards. The Company purchased shares on the open market for the employee performance shares that vested in 2017. The Company anticipates future employee performance share awards will continue to be satisfied by purchasing shares on the open market.

Total stock-based compensation expense (after tax) was $2.7 million, $3.3 million and $2.9 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

As of December 31, 2017, total remaining unrecognized compensation expense related to stock-based compensation was approximately $4.8 million (before income taxes) which will be amortized over a weighted average period of 1.5 years.

Stock awards

Non-employee directors receive shares of common stock in addition to and in lieu of cash payment for directors' fees. Shares of common stock were issued under the non-employee director stock compensation plan or the non-employee director long-term incentive compensation plan. There were 40,572 shares with a fair value of $1.1 million, 37,218 shares with a fair value of $1.1 million and 58,181 shares with a fair value of $1.1 million issued under these plans during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Performance share awards

Since 2003, key employees of the Company have been awarded performance share awards each year. Entitlement to performance shares is based on the Company's total shareholder return over designated performance periods as measured against a selected peer group.

Target grants of performance shares outstanding at December 31, 2017, were as follows:



Grant Date	Performance Period	Target Grant of Shares
February 2016	2016-2018	258,825
March 2016	2016-2018	2,151
February 2017	2017-2019	164,558

Participants may earn from zero to 200 percent of the target grant of shares based on the Company's total shareholder return relative to that of the selected peer group. Compensation expense is based on the grant-date fair value as determined by Monte Carlo simulation. The blended volatility term structure ranges are comprised of 50 percent historical volatility and 50 percent implied volatility. Risk-free interest rates were based on U.S. Treasury security rates in effect as of the grant date. Assumptions used for grants of performance shares issued in 2017, 2016 and 2015 were:



				2017						2016						2015
Weighted average grant-date fair value					$24.31						$14.60						$18.98
Blended volatility range	22.70	%	–	25.56		%	29.25	%	–	32.51		%	22.86	%	–	24.61		%
Risk-free interest rate range	.69	%	–	1.61		%	.47	%	–	.92		%	.05	%	–	1.07		%
Weighted average discounted dividends per share					$1.70						$1.56						$1.57

The fair value of the performance shares that vested during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, was $9.6 million and $953,000, respectively. There were no performance shares that vested in 2015.

A summary of the status of the performance share awards for the year ended December 31, 2017, was as follows:



	Number of Shares	Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Nonvested at beginning of period	664,188	$	21.47
Granted	203,646	24.31
Additional performance shares earned	81,643	19.22
Less:
Vested	360,319	24.88
Forfeited	163,624	24.46
Nonvested at end of period	425,534	$	18.35