On September 30, 2019, 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 after 2014 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
2019		2018		2019		2018
$	2,273	$	3,335	$	7,045	$	6,722

The quarter-over-quarter decrease in stock-based compensation expense was primarily attributable to cash-settled SARs. The cash-settled SARs compensation expense during the third quarter of 2019 was less than a year ago reflecting a smaller increase in the market value of Company stock during the third quarter of 2019 versus the increase during the third quarter of 2018.

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

(In thousands)	September 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Stock options	$	2,270	$	1,655
Stock awards		4,114		3,180
SARs		4,964		3,566

The increases in unrecognized compensation costs for stock options, stock awards and SARs reflected the 2019 grants of:

	Shares
Stock options		72,965
Stock awards (at target)		45,327
SARs		162,624

The unrecognized compensation costs at September 30, 2019, are expected to be recognized over weighted-average periods of 1.9 years, 1.8 years and 1.9 years for stock options, stock awards and SARs, respectively.