During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we issued restricted stock to certain employees totaling 9,300 shares that vest over a three-year period and had an aggregate grant date market value of $324,000 at a weighted average stock price of $34.79. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we issued restricted stock to certain employees totaling 10,200 shares that vest over a three-year period and had an aggregate grant date market value of $255,000 at a weighted average stock price of $25.00.

We recorded stock-based compensation expense, which is included in General, administrative and other expenses, for restricted stock awards of $184,000 and $121,000, for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we granted 701,400 options to certain key employee at a weighted average price of $34.79. These options will vest in one-fifth increments over a five-year period and have a ten-year term. The fair value of these options was $7.1 million. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we did not issue any stock options.

The fair value of the options granted were estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:


Grant date	February 17, 2021
Dividend yield	1.15	%
Expected volatility	36.72	%
Risk-free interest rate	0.57	%
Expected holding period (years)	5.0
Black-Scholes value	$10.14

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, employees exercised 101,000 stock options at a weighted average exercise price of $24.18 with an aggregate intrinsic value of $1.3 million. We received $147,000 in cash for payment of the option price and we withheld $295,000 for payment of payroll taxes. In addition, we accelerated 12,980 options in connection with the resignation of an employee which resulted in an additional $129,000 of stock-based compensation expense.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we also granted an additional 150,000 options to a certain key employee at a weighted average price of $34.79. These options will vest when the price of our common stock closes at or above the specified prices below for three consecutive days within the ten-year term and the employee has remained continuously employed by us through such date. The fair value of these options was $1.7 million.

The fair value of the options granted were estimated on the date of grant using the Monte-Carlo simulation pricing model using the following assumptions:


Grant date	February 17, 2021		February 17, 2021
Awards granted	50,000		100,000
Fair value (in millions)	$0.5		$1.2

Vesting share price	$53.39		$77.34
Dividend yield	1.15	%	1.15	%
Expected volatility	34.08	%	34.08	%
Risk-free interest rate	1.29	%	1.29	%

We recorded stock-based compensation expense, which is included in General, administrative and other expenses, for stock options, including the accelerated stock options discussed above of $215,000 and $560,000, for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we did not issue any performance awards and we cancelled 27,948 performance awards in connection with the resignation of two employees.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we issued 237,500 performance awards to certain employees, payable in shares, with a fair value of $2.8 million. On May 19, 2020, we cancelled all performance award agreements previously awarded to all individuals during 2019 and the February 19, 2020 award. Concurrently with the cancellation, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) approved 368,921 new performance awards to be issued to certain employees. These new performance awards were treated as a modification of the cancelled awards and resulted in an additional $1.7 million of incremental compensation costs.

We recorded stock-based compensation expense, which is included in General, administrative and other expenses, for performance awards of $121,000 and $237,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, employees purchased a total of 18,182 shares at a weighted average price of $26.32 per share. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, employees purchased a total of 26,294 shares at a weighted average price of $13.73 per share.

The fair value of the right (option) to purchase shares under the ESPP is estimated at the date of purchase with the four quarterly purchase dates using the following assumptions:


			2021
Dividend yield			0.01%
Expected volatility			48.14%
Risk-free interest rate			0.09%, 0.09%, 0.10%, 0.10%
Expected life (years)			0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00

We recorded stock-based compensation expense, which is included in General, administrative and other expenses and Regional and unallocated funeral and cemetery costs, for the ESPP totaling $163,000 and $206,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we granted 5,040 shares of our common stock to six Directors, which were valued at $177,000 at a weighted average stock price of $35.19. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we granted 8,821 shares of our common stock to five Directors, which were valued at $147,000 at a weighted average stock price of $16.15.

We recorded stock-based compensation expense, which is included in General, administrative and other expenses, related to annual retainers, including the value of stock granted to Directors above, of $201,000 and $231,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

On July 31, 2019, our Board approved an additional $25.0 million under our share repurchase program in accordance with Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we did not repurchase any shares of our common stock. At March 31, 2021, we had approximately $25.6 million available for repurchases under our share repurchase program.