Stock-Based Compensation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Disclosure Of Compensation Related Costs Sharebased Payments [Abstract]

Stock-Based Compensation

5. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

On September 30, 2018, the Company had stock options and stock awards outstanding under its 2006 Incentive Compensation Plan and stock options, stock awards and stock appreciation rights (SARs) outstanding under its 2011 Incentive Compensation Plan. SARs granted prior to 2015 are cash-settled, and SARs granted after 2014 are stock-settled.  Stock options and SARs granted prior to 2017 generally cliff vested after two years. Starting in 2017, stock options and SARs have a three-year graded vesting feature, with one-third of the awards vesting each year. The Company has elected the straight-line method of expense attribution for the stock options and SARs with the graded vesting feature.

Compensation expense recorded for all stock options, stock awards and SARs was as follows:

(In thousands)
Three Months Ended September 30				Nine Months Ended September 30
2018		2017		2018		2017
$	3,335	$	1,697	$	6,722	$	6,248

The year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter increase in stock-based compensation expense was primarily attributable to cash-settled SARs. SARs compensation expense increased due to an increase in the fair values of cash-settled SARs that resulted from an increase in the market value of Company common stock in the third quarter of 2018 and first nine months of 2018 versus the same periods in 2017.

Unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs were as follows:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Stock options	$	1,917	$	1,179
Stock awards		3,987		3,737
SARs		4,155		2,398

The increases in unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs reflected the 2018 grants of:

	Shares
Stock options		77,038
Stock awards (at target)		49,426
SARs		171,131

The unrecognized compensation costs at September 30, 2018, are expected to be recognized over weighted-average periods of 2.0 years, 1.8 years and 2.0 years for stock options, stock awards and SARs, respectively.