The Company has a stock-based compensation plan, as described below, under which awards are outstanding or may be granted in the future. Total compensation cost that has been charged against income for the plan totaled $233 for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and $283 for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The total income tax effect was $49 for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and $59 for the three months ended March 31, 2023.

The Company’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2019 Plan”) was approved by stockholders on May 29, 2019 and replaced the Company’s 2009 Equity Compensation Plan (the “2009” Plan”). The 2019 Plan, authorizes up to 300,000 shares (plus any shares that are subject to grants under the 2009 Plan and that are later forfeited or expire), to be awarded pursuant to stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock or restricted stock units. There were 69,262 shares remaining available for awards under the 2019 Plan at March 31, 2024.

The Plans permit the grant of stock options to directors, officers and employees of the Holding Company and CFBank. Option awards are granted with an exercise price equal to the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant, generally have vesting periods ranging from one year to three years, and are exercisable for ten years from the date of grant. Unvested stock options immediately vest upon a change of control.

The fair value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant using a closed form option valuation (Black-Scholes) model that uses the assumptions noted in the table below. Expected volatilities are based on historical volatilities of the Company’s common stock. The Company uses historical data to estimate option exercise and post-vesting termination behavior. Employee and management options are tracked separately. The expected term of options granted is based on historical data and represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding, which takes into account that the options are not transferable. The risk-free interest rate for the expected term of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of the grant.

There were no options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2023. There were no options exercised during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2023.

The 2019 Plan also permits the grant of restricted stock awards to directors, officers and employees. Compensation is recognized over the vesting period of the awards based on the fair value of the stock at grant date. The fair value of the stock is determined using the closing share price on the date of grant and shares generally have vesting periods of one year to three years. There were 7,068 shares of restricted stock granted under the 2019 Plan during the three months ended March 31, 2024. There were 58,784 shares of restricted stock granted during the three months ended March 31, 2023.

A summary of changes in the Company’s nonvested restricted stock awards as of March 31, 2024 follows (unaudited):



Nonvested Shares	Shares	Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Nonvested at January 1, 2024	119,026	$	19.99
Granted	7,068		21.85
Vested	(47,908)		19.36
Forfeited	-		-
Nonvested at March 31, 2024	78,186	$	20.55

As of March 31, 2024 and 2023, the unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested restricted stock awards granted under the 2019 Plan was $1,303 and $2,337, respectively.