The Company’s Amended and Restated 2008 Option Plan (the Plan), which is stockholder-approved, was adopted to advance the interests of the Company by providing selected key employees of the Company, their affiliates, and directors with the opportunity to acquire shares of common stock. In June 2018, the stockholders approved an amendment to Plan to extend the term and increase the number of shares authorized for issuance under the Plan by 200,000 shares. The Company has granted stock options and restricted stock units under the Plan.

The maximum number of shares with respect to which awards may be made is 2,529,296 shares of common stock, subject to adjustment for certain corporate events. Option awards are generally granted with an exercise price equal to the market price of the Company’s stock at the date of grant, generally vest annually over four years of continuous service and have ten year contractual terms. At March 31, 2021, 32,114 shares were available to grant under the Plan.

No options were granted during the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2021, there were no shares withheld from issuance upon exercise of options in order to cover the cost of the exercise by the participant. There were 2,737 shares withheld from issuance upon exercise of options in order to cover the cost of the exercise by the participant during the three months ended March 31, 2020.

A summary of option activity under the Plan as of March 31, 2021 and changes during the three months ended is presented below:

(1) The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options represents the total pre-tax intrinsic value (the amount by which the current market value of the underlying stock exceeds the exercise price of the option) that would have been received by the option holders had all option holders exercised their options on March 31, 2021. This amount changes based on changes in the market value of the Company’s common stock.

The compensation cost that has been charged to income for the Plan was $166 thousand and $205 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. As of March 31, 2021, all outstanding shares of the Plan are fully vested and amortized. The total income tax benefit related to stock options exercised and recognized in the income statement for share-based compensation arrangements was $125 thousand and $76 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. 116,488 restricted stock units were granted during the three months ended March 31, 2021. There were no restricted stock units granted during the three months ended March 31, 2020.

A summary of the Company’s restricted stock unit grant activity as of March 31, 2021 is shown below.


		Weighted Average
	Number of	Grant Date
	Shares	Fair Value
Nonvested at January 1, 2021	72,743	$	18.82
Granted	116,488		17.49
Vested	(250)		17.25
Forfeited	(115)		19.07
Balance at March 31, 2021	188,866	$	18.00

As of March 31, 2021, there was $3.0 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested restricted stock units granted under the Plan. The cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 38 months.