Shareholders’ Equity

We have common shares available for issuance under the terms of our equity compensation plan adopted in 2012, or the 2012 Plan. During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, we granted to our officers and other employees of RMR LLC annual share awards of 105,800, 88,100 and 79,650 of our common shares, respectively, valued at $2,022, $1,743 and $1,724, in aggregate, respectively. In accordance with our Trustee compensation arrangements, we also granted each of our Trustees 3,000 common shares with an aggregate value of $248 ($50 per Trustee), 3,000 common shares with an aggregate value of $319 ($64 per Trustee) and 2,500 common shares with an aggregate value of $228 ($46 per Trustee) in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. In March 2018, in accordance with our trustee compensation arrangements, and in connection with the election of one of our Managing Trustees, we granted 3,000 common shares with a value of $47 to a new Trustee who was elected as a Managing Trustee on that day. The values of the share awards were based upon the closing price of our common shares trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, or Nasdaq, on the dates of grant. The common shares granted to our Trustees vested immediately. The common shares granted to our officers and certain other employees of RMR LLC vest in five equal annual installments beginning on the dates of grant. We include the value of granted shares in general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income ratably over the vesting period. At December 31, 2018, 2,382,195 of our common shares remain available for issuance under the 2012 Plan.

A summary of shares granted, forfeited, vested and unvested under the terms of the 2012 Plan from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018 is as follows:



	Number of Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Unvested shares at December 31, 2015	158,874		$	19.39
Shares granted in 2016	92,150		$	21.18
Shares vested / forfeited in 2016	(97,614	)	$	21.09
Unvested shares at December 31, 2016	153,410		$	19.92
Shares granted in 2017	103,100		$	19.99
Shares vested / forfeited in 2017	(108,500	)	$	20.05
Unvested shares at December 31, 2017	148,010		$	19.71
Shares granted in 2018	123,800		$	18.72
Shares vested / forfeited in 2018	(109,820	)	$	18.31
Unvested shares at December 31, 2018	161,990		$	19.41

The 161,990 unvested shares as of December 31, 2018 are scheduled to vest as follows: 69,490 shares in 2019, 42,110 shares in 2020, 31,330 shares in 2021 and 19,060 shares in 2022. As of December 31, 2018, the estimated future compensation for the unvested shares was $2,267 based on the adjusted grant date fair value of these shares. At December 31, 2018, the weighted average period over which the compensation expense will be recorded is approximately 2.0 years. We recorded share based compensation expense of $2,224 in 2018, $2,155 in 2017 and $2,195 in 2016.

During 2018, 2017 and 2016, we purchased an aggregate of 22,999, 17,170 and 19,230, respectively, of our common shares from certain employees of RMR LLC in satisfaction of tax withholding and payment obligations in connection with the vesting of awards of our common shares. See Note 7 for further information regarding these purchases.

Our cash distributions to our common shareholders were $1.56 per share for each of the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. The characterization of our distributions paid or accrued in 2018, 2017 and 2016 was 38.13%, 88.44% and 58.77% ordinary income, respectively; 0.0%, 0.0% and 40.67% return of capital, respectively; 1.16%, 0.71% and 0.56% qualified dividend, respectively, and 61.87%, 10.85% and 0.0% capital gain, respectively. On January 18, 2019, we declared a quarterly distribution of $0.39 per share, or $92,715, to our common shareholders of record on January 28, 2019, with respect to our operating results for the quarter ended December 31, 2018; we paid this distribution on February 21, 2019, using cash on hand and borrowings under our revolving credit facility.