Stock-Based Compensation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

For restricted stock awards and stock options, we had:



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
	(In millions)
Recognized stock compensation expense	$	2.1	$	4.4	$	11.2	$	12.7
Capitalized stock compensation cost for our oil and natural gas properties	0.7		0.9		2.6		2.7
Tax benefit on stock based compensation	0.8		1.7		4.2		4.9

The remaining unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested awards at September 30, 2015 is approximately $19.1 million, of which $3.4 million is anticipated to be capitalized. The weighted average period of time over which this cost will be recognized is 0.8 of a year.

The Second Amended and Restated Unit Corporation Stock and Incentive Compensation Plan effective May 6, 2015 (the amended plan) allows us to grant stock-based and cash-based compensation to our employees (including employees of subsidiaries) as well as to non-employee directors. A total of 4,500,000 shares of the company's common stock is authorized for issuance to eligible participants under the amended plan.

We did not grant any SARs or stock options during either of the three or nine month periods ending September 30, 2015 and 2014. The following table shows the fair value of restricted stock awards granted to employees and non-employee directors during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014. There were no shares granted during the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014.



	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2015			2014
Shares granted:
Employees	724,442			438,342
Non employee directors	25,848			13,768
	750,290			452,110
Estimated fair value (in millions):
Employees	$	23.6		$	22.4
Non employee directors	0.9			0.9
	$	24.5		$	23.3
Percentage of shares granted expected to be distributed:
Employees	75		%	90		%
Non employee directors	100		%	100		%

The restricted stock awards granted during the first nine months of 2015 and 2014 are being recognized over a three year vesting period, except for a portion of those awards made to certain executive officers. As to those executive officers, 50% of the shares granted, or 148,081 shares in 2015, 40% of the shares granted, or 71,674 shares in 2014, and 30% of the shares granted, or 57,405 shares in 2013, (the performance shares), will cliff vest in the first half of 2018, 2017, and 2016, respectively. The actual number of performance shares that vest in 2016, 2017, and 2018 will be based on the company’s achievement of certain stock performance measures at the end of the term, and will range from 0% to 150% of the restricted shares granted as performance shares. Based on a probability assessment of the selected performance criteria at September 30, 2015, the participants are estimated to receive none of the 2015, 67% of the 2014, and 11% of the 2013 performance based shares. Based on this assessment, we reduced our accrual for total aggregate stock compensation expense and capitalized cost related to oil and natural gas properties by $3.0 million. The total aggregate stock compensation expense and capitalized cost related to oil and natural gas properties for 2015 awards for the first nine months of 2015 was $6.8 million.