Stock award and incentive plan

For the purpose of attracting and retaining the highest-quality personnel, providing for additional incentives, and promoting the success of our Company, we generally issue share-based compensation in the form of restricted stock, pursuant to our stock award and incentive plan. We have not granted any options since 2002. Each restricted share issued reduced our share reserve by three shares (3:1 ratio) prior to March 23, 2018 and by one share (1:1 ratio) on and after March 23, 2018. As of December 31, 2023, there were 2,708,800 shares reserved for the granting of future stock-based awards under our stock award and incentive plan.

In addition, our stock award and incentive plan permits us to issue share awards to our employees, non-employees, and non-employee directors. A share award is an award of common stock that (i) may be fully vested upon issuance or (ii) may be subject to the risk of forfeiture under Section 83 of the Code. Shares issued generally vest over a four-year period from the date of issuance, and the sale of the shares is restricted prior to the date of vesting. Certain restricted share awards are also subject to an additional one-year holding period after vesting. The unearned portion of time-based share awards is amortized as share-based compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. Certain restricted share awards are subject to vesting based upon the satisfaction of levels of performance or market conditions. Failure to satisfy the threshold performance conditions will result in the forfeiture of shares and in a reversal of previously recognized share-based compensation expense. Failure to satisfy the market condition results in the forfeiture of shares but does not result in a reversal of previously recognized share-based compensation expense, provided that the requisite service has been rendered. Forfeiture of time-based, performance-based, or market-based awards due to the failure to meet the service requirement results in the reversal of previously recognized share-based compensation expense.

The following is a summary of the stock awards activity under our equity incentive plan and related information for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 (dollars in thousands, except per share information):


			Number of Share Awards		Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2020			1,825,280		$		132.95
Granted			740,920		$		174.32
Vested			(709,737)		$		131.54
Forfeited			(33,003)		$		99.55
Outstanding at December 31, 2021			1,823,460		$		150.89
Granted			1,032,731		$		141.58
Vested			(749,101)		$		146.25
Forfeited			(19,569)		$		160.83
Outstanding at December 31, 2022			2,087,521		$		149.96
Granted			1,522,058		$		108.22
Vested			(798,729)		$		149.41
Forfeited			(56,689)		$		104.65
Outstanding at December 31, 2023			2,754,161		$		127.34

	Year Ended December 31,
	2023		2022		2021
Total grant date fair value of stock awards vested	$	119,335	$	109,557	$	93,359
Total gross compensation recognized for stock awards	$	139,675	$	104,424	$	94,748
Capitalized stock compensation	$	56,817	$	46,684	$	46,079

Certain restricted stock awards granted during 2023, 2022, and 2021 are subject to performance and market conditions. The grant date fair value of these awards is determined using a Monte Carlo simulation pricing model using the following assumptions for 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively: (i) expected term of 3.0 years, 2.8 years, and 3.0 years (equal to the remaining performance measurement period at the grant date), (ii) volatility of 32.0%, 30.0%, and 29.0% (approximating a blended average of implied and historical volatilities), (iii) dividend yield of 2.8%, 2.5%, and 2.8%, and (iv) risk-free rate of 4.22%, 2.47%, and 0.23%.

As of December 31, 2023, there was $260.4 million of unrecognized compensation related to unvested share awards under the equity incentive plan, which is expected to be recognized over the next four years and has a weighted-average vesting period of approximately 22 months.