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Note 8 - Stockholders' Equity and Stock Incentive Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Shareholders' Equity and Share-based Payments [Text Block]

NOTE 8. STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY AND STOCK INCENTIVE PLANS

Share Repurchase Program

On December 12, 2018, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program of $100 million which as of March 31, 2020, had $61.4 million remaining under the plan. On March 16, 2020, the Company suspended share repurchases under the program in order to preserve liquidity during the property closure period.

The following table provides information regarding share repurchases during the referenced periods.

Three Months Ended

March 31,

(In thousands, except per share data)

2020

2019

Shares repurchased (1)
683 830

Total cost, including brokerage fees
$ 11,120 $ 21,653

Average repurchase price per share (2)
$ 16.29 $ 26.09

⁽¹⁾ All shares repurchased have been retired and constitute authorized but unissued shares.

⁽²⁾ Amounts in the table may not recalculate exactly due to rounding. Average repurchase price per share is calculated based on unrounded numbers.

Dividends

The dividends declared by the Board of Directors and reflected in the periods presented are:

Declaration date

Record date

Payment date
Amount per share

December 7, 2018

December 28, 2018

January 15, 2019
$ 0.06

March 4, 2019

March 15, 2019

April 15, 2019
0.06

December 17, 2019

December 27, 2019

January 15, 2020
0.07

On March 25, 2020, the Company announced that the cash dividend program has been suspended to help mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Share-Based Compensation

We account for share-based awards exchanged for employee services in accordance with the authoritative accounting guidance for share-based payments. Under the guidance, share-based compensation expense is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as expense, net of estimated forfeitures, over the employee's requisite service period.

The following table provides classification detail of the total costs related to our share-based employee compensation plans reported in our condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Three Months Ended

March 31,

(In thousands)

2020

2019

Gaming
$ 212 $ 194

Food & beverage
40 37

Room
19 18

Selling, general and administrative
1,076 988

Corporate expense
6,844 8,472

Total share-based compensation expense
$ 8,191 $ 9,709

Performance Shares

Our stock incentive plan provides for the issuance of Performance Share Unit ("PSU") grants which may be earned, in whole or in part, upon passage of time and the attainment of performance criteria. We periodically review our estimates of performance against the defined criteria to assess the expected payout of each outstanding PSU grant and adjust our stock compensation expense accordingly.

The PSU grants awarded in fourth quarter 2016 and 2015 vested during first quarter 2020 and 2019, respectively. Common shares were issued based on the determination by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of our actual achievement of net revenue growth, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization ("EBITDA") growth and customer service scores for the three-year performance period of each grant. As provided under the provisions of our stock incentive plan, certain of the participants elected to surrender a portion of the shares to be received to pay the withholding and other payroll taxes payable on the compensation resulting from the vesting of the PSUs.

The PSU grant awarded in November 2016 resulted in a total of 364,810 shares being issued during first quarter 2020, representing approximately 1.53 shares per PSU. Of the 364,810 shares issued, a total of 126,465 were surrendered by the participants for payroll taxes, resulting in a net issuance of 238,345 shares due to the vesting of the 2016 grant. The actual achievement level under the award metrics equaled the estimated performance as of year-end 2019; therefore, the vesting of the PSUs did not impact compensation costs in our 2020 condensed consolidated statement of operations.

The PSU grant awarded in October 2015 resulted in a total of 395,964 shares being issued during first quarter 2019, representing approximately 1.67 shares per PSU. Of the 395,964 shares issued, a total of 125,004 were surrendered by the participants for payroll taxes, resulting in a net issuance of 270,960 shares due to the vesting of the 2015 grant. The actual achievement level under the award metrics equaled the estimated performance as of year-end 2018; therefore, the vesting of the PSUs did not impact compensation costs in our 2019 condensed consolidated statement of operations.