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Compensation Plans
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Compensation Plans
Note 10 - Compensation Plans
The Company may grant various types of both short-term and long-term incentive-based awards under its compensation plans, such as cash awards, performance-based cash awards, and equity awards to eligible employees. Additionally, the Company grants stock-based compensation to its Board of Directors and provides an employee stock purchase plan. As of June 30, 2023, approximately 3.7 million shares of common stock were available for grant under the Company’s Equity Incentive Compensation Plan (“Equity Plan”).
Performance Share Units
The Company has granted PSUs to eligible employees as part of its Equity Plan. The number of shares of the Company’s common stock issued to settle PSUs ranges from zero to two times the number of PSUs awarded and is determined based on certain criteria over a three-year performance period. PSUs generally vest on the third anniversary of the date of the grant or upon other triggering events as set forth in the Equity Plan.
For PSUs granted in 2022 and 2023, which the Company determined to be equity awards, settlement will be determined based on a combination of the following criteria measured over the three-year performance period: the Company’s Total Shareholder Return (“TSR”) relative to the TSR of certain peer companies, the Company’s absolute TSR, free cash flow (“FCF”) generation, and the achievement of certain ESG targets, in each case as defined by the award agreement. The Company initially records compensation expense associated with the issuance of PSUs based on the fair value of the awards as of the grant date. As a portion of these awards depends on performance-based settlement criteria, compensation expense may be adjusted in future periods as the expected number of shares of the Company’s common stock issued to settle the units increases or decreases based on the Company’s expected FCF generation and achievement of certain ESG targets.
Compensation expense for PSUs is recognized within general and administrative expense and exploration expense over the vesting periods of the respective awards. Total compensation expense recorded for PSUs was $0.2 million and $0.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively, and $0.8 million and $1.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively. As of June 30, 2023, there was $4.1 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested PSUs, which is being amortized through mid-2025. There were no material changes to the outstanding and non-vested PSUs during the six months ended June 30, 2023.
Subsequent to June 30, 2023, the Company granted a total of 256,633 PSUs with a grant date fair value of $7.7 million.
Restricted Stock Units
The Company has granted RSUs to eligible employees as part of its Equity Plan. Each RSU represents a right to receive one share of the Company’s common stock upon settlement of the award at the end of the specified vesting period. RSUs generally vest in one-third increments on each anniversary date of the grant over the applicable vesting period or upon other triggering events as set forth in the Equity Plan.
The Company records compensation expense associated with the issuance of RSUs based on the fair value of the awards as of the date of grant. The fair value of an RSU is equal to the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the date of the grant. Compensation expense for RSUs is recognized within general and administrative expense and exploration expense over the vesting periods of the respective awards. Total compensation expense recorded for RSUs was $3.4 million and $3.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively, and $6.7 million and $6.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively. As of June 30, 2023, there was $17.4 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested RSUs, which is being amortized through January 2026. There were no material changes to the outstanding and non-vested RSUs during the six months ended June 30, 2023.
Subsequent to June 30, 2023, the Company settled RSUs upon the vesting of awards granted in previous years. The Company and a majority of eligible recipients mutually agreed to net share settle a portion of the awards to cover income and payroll tax withholdings, as provided for in the Equity Plan and applicable award agreements. After withholding 248,963 shares to satisfy income and payroll tax withholding obligations, the Company issued 553,442 shares of common stock in accordance with the terms of the applicable award agreements. Additionally, the Company granted to employees a total of 591,361 RSUs with a grant date fair value of $18.7 million.
Director Shares
During the second quarters of 2023, and 2022, the Company issued a total of 56,872 and 29,471 shares, respectively, of its common stock as compensation to its non-employee directors under the Equity Plan. Shares issued during 2023 will fully vest on December 31, 2023, and shares issued during 2022 fully vested on December 31, 2022.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), eligible employees may purchase shares of the Company’s common stock through payroll deductions of up to 15 percent of eligible compensation, subject to a maximum of 2,500 shares per offering period and a maximum of $25,000 in value related to purchases for each calendar year. The purchase price of the common stock is 85 percent of the lower of the trading price of the common stock on either the first or last day of the six-month offering period. The ESPP is intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. There were a total of 68,210 and 65,634 shares issued under the ESPP during the second quarters of 2023, and 2022, respectively. Total proceeds to the Company for the issuance of these shares was $1.8 million and $1.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively. The fair value of ESPP grants is measured at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.
Please refer to Note 7 - Compensation Plans in the 2022 Form 10-K for additional detail on the Company’s compensation plans.