20.	Incentive Plans :

The Company accounts for

equity awards in accordance with FASB’s Compensation – Stock Compensation guidance which requires that all share based payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options, restricted stock and performance shares, be recognized in the Statement of Income over the service period based on their fair values. Fair value is determined, depending on the type of award, using either the Monte Carlo method for performance shares or the Black-Scholes option pricing formula, both of which are intended to estimate the fair value of the awards at the grant date. Fair value of restricted shares is calculated based on the price on the date of grant.

The Company recognized expense associated with its equity awards

$21.6

million,

$19.1

million and

$18.5

million, for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

respectively. As of

December 31, 2017,

the Company had

$27.5

million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested stock compensation granted under the Plans. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of

2.7

years. The Company had

10,410,343,

10,015,040

and

9,095,416

shares of the Company’s common stock available for issuance under the Plans at

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

respectively.

Stock Options

During

2017,

2016

and

2015,

the Company did

not

grant any stock options. Information with respect to stock options outstanding under the Plan for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015

are as follows:

	Shares			Weighted-Average Exercise Price Per Share		Aggregate Intrinsic V alue (in millions)
Options outstanding, January 1, 2015		11,893,761		$	30.23	$	29.8
Exercised		(1,019,240	)	$	18.36	$	7.4
Forfeited		(1,862,080	)	$	32.55
Options outstanding, December 31, 2015		9,012,441		$	31.09	$	27.4
Exercised		(1,167,819	)	$	18.03	$	12.4
Forfeited		(1,830,893	)	$	39.69
Options outstanding, December 31, 2016		6,013,729		$	32.09	$	12.1
Exercised		(83,863	)	$	18.20	$	3.4
Forfeited		(2,464,920	)	$	35.91
Options outstanding, December 31, 201 7		3,464,946		$	27.81	$	-
Options exercisable (fully vested) -
December 31, 2015		7,617,882		$	32.90	$	20.0
December 31, 2016		5,144,416		$	32.56	$	11.3
December 31, 201 7		3,464,946		$	27.81	$	4.0

The exercise price

per share for options outstanding as of

December 31, 2017

ranges from

$11.54

$40.79.

The Company estimates forfeitures based on historical data. The weighted-average remaining contractual life for options outstanding as of

December 31, 2017

was

2.3

years. The weighted-average remaining contractual term of options currently exercisable as of

December 31, 2017,

was

2.3

years. As of

December 31, 2017,

all of the Company’s outstanding options were vested. Cash received from options exercised under the Plan was

$1.5

million,

$21.1

million and

$18.7

million for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

respectively.

Restricted Stock

Information with respect to

restricted stock under the Plan for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015

are as follows:

	201 7			201 6			201 5
Restricted stock outstanding as of January 1,		1,930,732			1,712,534			1,911,145
Granted (1)		646,142			756,530			729,160
Vested		(783,872	)		(520,539	)		(875,202	)
Forfeited		(15,573	)		(17,793	)		(52,569	)
Restricted stock outstanding as of December 31,		1,777,429			1,930,732			1,712,534

(1)

The weighted-average grant date fair value for restricted stock issued during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were $25.04, $26.15 and $25.98, respectively.

Restricted shares have the same voting rights as the Company

’s common stock and are entitled to a cash dividend per share equal to the Company’s common dividend which is taxable as ordinary income to the holder. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, the dividends paid on unvested restricted shares were $2.4 million, $2.2 million, and $1.8 million, respectively.

Performance Shares

Information with respect to performance share awards under the Plan for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015

are as follows:

	2017	2016	2015
Performance share award outstanding as of January 1,	197,249	202,754	114,268
Granted (1)	135,780	100,170	145,620
Vested (2)	(97,079)	(105,675)	(57,134)
Performance share award outstanding as of December 31,	235,950	197,249	202,754

(

)

The weighted-average grant date fair value for performance shares issued during the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015

were

$23.35,

$28.60

and

$27.87,

respectively.

(

)

For the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

the corresponding common stock equivalent of these vested awards were

130,080

and

91,862,

respectively.

The more significant assumptions underlying the determination of fair values for these awards granted during

2017,

2016

and

2015

were as follows:

	201 7			201 6			201 5
Stock price	$	24.91		$	26.29		$	26.83
Dividend yield (1)		0	%		0	%		0	%
Risk-free rate		1.45	%		0.87	%		0.98	%
Volatility (2)		18.93	%		18.80	%		16.81	%
Term of the award (years)		2.88			2.88			1.88, 2.88

( 1 )	Total Shareholder Returns , as used in the performance share awards computation, are measured based on cumulative dividend stock prices, as such a zero percent dividend yield is utilized.
( 2 )	Volatility is based on the annualized standard deviation of the daily logarithmic returns on dividend-adjusted closing prices over the look-back period based on the term of the award.

Other

The Company maintains a

401

(k)-retirement plan covering substantially all officers and employees, which permits participants to defer up to the maximum allowable amount determined by the Internal Revenue Service of their eligible compensation. This deferred compensation, together with Company matching contributions, which generally equal employee deferrals up to a maximum of

of their eligible compensation, is fully vested and funded as of

December 31, 2017.

The Company’s contributions to the plan were

$2.1

million,

$2.0

million and

$2.1

million for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

respectively.

The Company recognized severance costs associated with employee terminations during the years ended

December 31,

2017,

2016

and

2015,

$5.5

million,

$1.7

million and

$4.8

million, respectively.