On September 30, 2021, the Company had 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 in 2015 and later 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
2021		2020		2021		2020
$	2,723	$	3,223	$	8,069	$	7,414

The decrease in stock-based compensation expense for the three months of 2021 versus the same period in 2020 was due to a decrease in cash-settled SARS compensation expense which reflects a decrease in the market value of Company stock during the third quarter of 2021 versus an increase in the market value of Company stock during the third quarter of 2020. The increase in stock-based compensation expense for the first nine months of 2021 compared to the first nine months of 2020 was primarily attributable to performance awards. The increase in performance awards compensation expense reflects management’s assessment of profitability performance targets.

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

(In thousands)	September 30, 2021		December 31, 2020
Stock options	$	2,739	$	1,993
Stock awards		6,728		5,313
SARs		5,931		4,341

The increases in unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs reflected the 2021 grants of:

	Shares
Stock options		66,134
Stock awards (at target)		41,228
SARs		142,451

The unrecognized compensation costs at September 30, 2021, are expected to be recognized over weighted-average periods of 1.8 years for stock options, SARs and stock awards.