Employee Stock Ownership Plan

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Effective January 1, 2007, Horizon converted its stock bonus plan to an employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”). Prior to that date, Horizon maintained an employee stock bonus plan that covered substantially all employees. The stock bonus plan was noncontributory, and Horizon made matching contributions of amounts contributed by the employees to the Employee Thrift Plan and discretionary contributions. Prior to the establishment of the employee stock bonus plan, Horizon maintained an ESOP that was terminated in 1999. The prior ESOP accounts of active employees and the discretionary accounts of active employees remain in the new ESOP. The Matching contribution accounts under the stock bonus plan were transferred to the Employee Thrift Plan.

The ESOP exists for the benefit of substantially all employees. Contributions to the ESOP are by Horizon and are determined by the Board of Directors at its discretion. The contributions may be made in the form of cash or common stock. Shares are allocated among participants each December 31 on the basis of each participant’s eligible compensation to total eligible compensation. Eligible compensation is limited to $265,000 for each participant. Dividends on shares held by the plan, at the discretion of each participant, may be distributed to an individual participant or left in the plan to purchase additional shares.

Total cash contributions and expense recorded for the ESOP was $591,000 in 2020, $719,000 in 2019 and $750,000 in 2018.

The ESOP, which is not leveraged, owns a total of 1,399,383 shares of Horizon’s stock or 3.2% of the outstanding shares as of December 31, 2020.