The Company maintains incentive compensation plans that provide for awards of share-based compensation to employees and directors. These plans have been approved by the Company’s shareholders. Detailed descriptions of these plans were included in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

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

						Weighted
				Weighted		Average
				Average		Remaining		Aggregate
	Number of			Exercise		Contractual		Intrinsic
Options	Shares			Price		Term (Years)		Value ($000)
Outstanding at January 1, 2019		46,865		$	31.88		2.6	$	164
Former MidSouth options converted at acquisition		20,530			46.76				—
Exercised/Released		(18,969	)		31.54				172
Cancelled/Forfeited		—			—				—
Expired		—			—				—
Outstanding at September 30, 2019		48,426		$	38.32		1.5	$	174
Exercisable at September 30, 2019		48,426		$	38.32		1.5	$	174

The total intrinsic value of options exercised during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 was $0.2 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

The Company’s restricted and performance-based share awards to certain employees and directors are subject to service requirements. A summary of the status of the Company’s nonvested restricted and performance-based share awards at September 30, 2019 and changes during the nine months ended September 30, 2019, are presented in the following table.

				Weighted
				Average
	Number of			Grant Date
	Shares			Fair Value
Nonvested at January 1, 2019		1,494,041		$	39.89
Granted		102,221			35.74
Vested		(35,353	)		40.96
Forfeited		(53,525	)		39.22
Nonvested at September 30, 2019		1,507,384		$	39.60

As of September 30, 2019, there was $41.3 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to nonvested restricted and performance shares expected to vest in the future. This compensation is expected to be recognized in expense over a weighted average period of 3.0 years. The total fair value of shares which vested during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 was $1.3 million and $2.0 million, respectively.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company granted 33,691 performance share awards subject to a total shareholder return (“TSR”) performance metric with a grant date fair value of $35.27 per share and 33,691 performance shares subject to an operating earnings per share performance metric with a grant date fair value of $32.15 per share to key members of executive management. The number of performance shares subject to TSR that ultimately vest at the end of the three-year performance period, if any, will be based on the relative rank of the Company’s three-year TSR among the TSRs of a peer group of 42 regional banks. The fair value of the performance shares subject to TSR at the grant date was determined using a Monte Carlo simulation method. The number of performance shares subject to operating earnings per share that ultimately vest will be based on the Company’s attainment of certain operating earnings per share goals over the two-year performance period. The maximum number of performance shares that could vest is 200% of the target award. Compensation expense for these performance shares is recognized on a straight line basis over the three-year service period.