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Equity Compensation Plan
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Equity Compensation Plan Information [Abstract]  
Equity Compensation Plan

15. Equity Compensation Plan

At the 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, First United Corporation’s shareholders approved the First United Corporation 2018 Equity Compensation Plan (the “Equity Plan”) which authorizes the issuance of up to 325,000 shares of common stock to employees, directors and qualifying consultants pursuant to stock options, stock appreciation rights, stock awards, dividend equivalents, and other stock-based awards.

The Corporation complies with the provisions of ASC Topic 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation, in measuring and disclosing stock compensation cost.  The measurement objective in ASC Paragraph 718-10-30-6 requires public companies to measure the cost of employee services received in exchange for an award of equity instruments based on the grant date fair value of the award. The cost is recognized in expense over the period in which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the award (the vesting period).

Pursuant to First United Corporation’s director compensation policy, each director receives an annual retainer of 1,000 shares of First United Corporation common stock, plus $15,000 to be paid, at the director’s election, in cash or additional shares of common stock.  In January 2021, a total of 1,202 fully vested shares were issued to two new directors, which had a grant date fair market value of $16.66 per share.  In May 2021, a total of 12,726 fully vested shares of common stock were issued to directors, which had a grant date fair value of $18.50 per share.  In May 2022, a total of 14,940 fully vested shares of common stock were issued to directors, which had a grant date fair value of $18.92 per share.  Director stock compensation expense was $266,920 for the year ended December 31, 2022 and $250,575 for the year ended December 31, 2021.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, employee stock compensation was $79,464.

Restricted Stock Units

On March 26, 2020, pursuant to the Corporation’s Long Term Incentive Plan (the "LTIP"), which is a sub-plan of the Equity Plan, the Compensation Committee of First United Corporation’s Board of Directors (the "Committee") granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to the Corporation’s principal executive officer, its principal financial officer, and certain of its other executive officers. An RSU contemplates the issuance of shares of common stock of First United Corporation if and when the RSU vests.

The RSUs granted to each of the foregoing officers consist of (i) a performance vesting award for a three year performance period and (ii) a time-vesting award that will vest ratably over a three year period. Target performance levels were set based on the annual budget which supports the Corporation’s long-term objective of achieving high performance as compared to peers. Threshold performance is the minimum level of acceptable performance as defined by the Committee and maximum performance represented a level potentially achievable under ideal circumstances. Achievement of the threshold performance level would result in each executive participant earning a payout at 50% of his or her respective

target award opportunity. Achievement of the target performance level would result in the executive participant earning the target award and achievement at or above the maximum performance level would result in the executive participant earning 150% of the target opportunity. Actual results for any goal that falls between performance levels would be interpolated to calculate a proportionate award. For the performance period ending December 31, 2021, the RSUs’ performance goal is based on earnings per share for the year ending December 31, 2021. For the performance period ending December 31, 2022, the RSUs performance goals are based on earnings per share for the year ending December 31, 2022 and growth in tangible book value per share during the performance period. For the performance period ending December 31, 2023, the RSUs performance goals are based on earnings per share for the year ending December 31, 2023 and growth in tangible book value per share during the performance period.  For the performance period ending December 31, 2024, the RSUs performance goals are based on earnings per share for the year ending December 31, 2024 and growth in tangible book value per share during the performance period.  

To receive any shares under an RSU, a grantee must be employed by the Corporation or one of its subsidiaries on the applicable vesting date, except that a grantee whose employment terminates prior to such vesting date due to death, disability or retirement will be entitled to a pro-rated portion of the shares subject to the RSUs, assuming that, in the case of performance-vesting RSUs, the performance goals had been met at their "target" levels.

In the first quarter of 2020, RSUs were granted relating to 9,791 performance vesting shares (target level) for 2019 LTIP plan for the performance period ending December 31, 2021 and 10,143 performance vesting shares and 5,070 time vesting shares (target level) for 2020 LTIP plan for the performance period ending December 31, 2022, which had a grant date fair market value of $12.54 per share of common stock underlying each RSU.  The 2020 plan has a performance period for the performance-vesting RSUs of three years ending December 31, 2022 and the time-vesting RSUs will vest ratably over a three year period that began on March 26, 2021.  On March 26, 2021, 1,690 of the 5,070 time vesting shares were issued to participants.  On March 28, 2022, 1,688 of the 5,070 time vesting shares were issued to participants.  Stock compensation expense was $73,816 and $98,842 for the years ended 2022 and 2021, respectively.  Unrecognized compensation expense as of December 31, 2022 related to unvested RSUs was $15,895.

In May 2021, RSUs relating to 7,389 performance vesting shares and 3,693 time vesting shares (target level) for plan year 2021 were granted, which had a grant date fair market value of $17.93 per share of common stock underlying each RSU.  The performance period for the performance-vesting RSUs is the three year period ending December 31, 2023.  The time-vesting RSUs will vest ratably over a three year period that began on May 5, 2022.   On May 5, 2022, 1,230 of the 3,693 time vested shares were issued to participants.  Stock compensation expense was $66,285 and $44,190 for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.  Unrecognized compensation expense as of December 31, 2022 related to unvested RSUs was $88,380.

In March 2022, RSUs relating to 8,096 performance vesting shares and 6,238 time vesting shares (target level) for the plan year 2022 were granted, which had a grant date fair market value of $21.88 per share of common stock underlying each RSU.   The performance period for the performance-vesting RSUs is three year period ending December 31, 2024.  The time-vesting RSUs will vest ratably over a three year period beginning March 9, 2023.  Stock compensation expense was $78,436 for the year ending December 31, 2022.   Unrecognized compensation expense as of December 31, 2022 related to unvested RSUs was $235,307.