Note 21 - Equity Incentive and Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Equity Incentive Plans [Text Block]

21. Equity Incentive and Employee Benefit Plans

A summary of our equity incentive plans, restated as applicable for stock dividends, follows.

Employee Equity Incentive Plans. Effective March 2001, we adopted the M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. 2001 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2001 Equity Incentive Plan”). Non-qualified option awards previously granted generally vested over periods of up to seven years and expire ten years after the date of grant. Restricted stock awards generally were granted with vesting terms of up to five years. On March 26, 2011, the 2001 Equity Incentive Plan terminated and all stock option grants and restricted stock awards outstanding at the time of the plan termination may continue to be exercised, or become free of restrictions, in accordance with their terms. A total of 0.4 million shares of MDC common stock were reserved for issuance under the 2001 Equity Incentive Plan as of December 31, 2019.

On April 27, 2011, our shareholders approved the M.D.C Holdings, Inc. 2011 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2011 Equity Incentive Plan”), which provides for the grant of non-qualified stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units and other equity awards to employees of the Company. Stock options granted under the 2011 Equity Incentive Plan have an exercise price that is at least equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the date the stock option is granted, generally vest in periods up to five years and expire ten years after the date of grant. At December 31, 2019, a total of 8.6 million shares of MDC common stock were reserved for issuance under the 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, of which 1.8 million shares remained available for grant under this plan as of December 31, 2019.

Director Equity Incentive Plans. Effective March 2001, we adopted the M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. Stock Option Plan for Non-Employee Directors (the “2001 Director Stock Option Plan”). Each option granted under the Director Stock Option Plan vested immediately and expires ten years from the date of grant. The 2001 Director Stock Option Plan terminated on May 21, 2012 and stock options outstanding at the time of plan termination may continue to be exercised in accordance with their terms. A total of 26 thousand shares of MDC common stock were reserved for issuance under the 2001 Director Stock Option Plan as of December 31, 2019.

Effective April 27, 2011, our shareholders approved the M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. 2011 Stock Option Plan for Non-Employee Directors (the “2011 Director Stock Option Plan”), which provides for the grant of non-qualified stock options to non-employee directors of the Company. Effective March 29, 2016, our shareholders approved an amendment to the 2011 Director Stock Option Plan to provide the non-employee directors with an alternative to elect to receive an award of restricted stock in lieu of a stock option. Pursuant to the 2011 Director Stock Option Plan as amended, on August 1 of each year, each non-employee director is granted either (1) an option to purchase 25,000 shares of MDC common stock or (2) shares of restricted stock having an expense to the Company that is equivalent to the stock option. Each option granted under the 2011 Director Stock Option Plan vests immediately, becomes exercisable six months after grant, and expires ten years from the date of grant. The option exercise price must be equal to the fair market value (as defined in the plan) of our common stock on the date of grant of the option. Each restricted stock award granted under the 2011 Director Stock Option Plan vests seven months after the grant date. At December 31, 2019, a total of 0.8 million shares of MDC common stock were reserved for issuance under the 2011 Director Stock Option Plan and 0.5 million shares remained available for grant under this plan as of December 31, 2019.

Employee Benefit Plan. We have a defined contribution plan pursuant to Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code where each employee may elect to make before-tax contributions up to the current tax limits. Effective for 2018 and thereafter, we match employee contributions at a rate of 50% of the first 6% of compensation and, as of December 31, 2019, we had accrued $2.6 million related to the match that is to be contributed in the first quarter of 2020 for 2019 activity. At December 31, 2018, we had accrued $2.4 million related to the match that was contributed in the first quarter of 2019 for 2018 activity. At December 31, 2017, we had accrued $2.1 million related to the match that was contributed during the first quarter of 2018 for 2017 activity.