Note 7 – Stock-Based Compensation

2016 Equity Incentive Plan

The 2016 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “Plan”) is intended to assist the Company and its affiliates in recruiting and retaining employees of the Manager, members of the Board, executive officers of the Company, and individuals who provide services to those entities or affiliates of those entities.

The Plan is intended to permit the grant of both qualifying and non-qualified options and the grant of stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, unrestricted stock, awards of restricted stock units, performance awards and other equity-based awards (including LTIP Units) for up to an aggregate of 2,232 shares of common stock, subject to increase under certain provisions of the Plan. On May 29, 2019, the Company's stockholders approved an amendment to the Plan to increase the number of authorized shares available for issuance under the Plan by 1,000 shares from 1,232 to 2,232.  Based on the grants outstanding as of September 30, 2019, there are 1,020 units that remain available to be granted under the Plan. Units subject to awards under the Plan that are forfeited, cancelled, lapsed, settled in cash or otherwise expired (excluding shares withheld to satisfy exercise prices or tax withholding obligations) are available for grant.

Time-Based Grants

The time-based vesting LTIP unit activity under the Plan during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was as follows:

 

 

A detail of the vested and unvested LTIP units outstanding as of September 30, 2019 is as follows:

 

 

Performance Based Awards

For each of the past three years the Company’s Board has approved annual performance-based LTIP awards (“Annual Awards”)  and long-term performance-based LTIP awards (“Long-Term Awards”) to the executive officers of the Company and other employees of the Advisor who perform services for the Company.  As described in detail below the Annual Awards have one-year performance periods and the Long-Term Awards have three-year performance periods. In addition to meeting specified performance metrics, vesting in both the Annual Awards and the Long-Term Awards is subject to service requirements.

A detail of the Annual Awards and Long-Term Awards under the 2017, 2018, and 2019 programs as of September 30, 2019 is as follows:

 

 

The number of target LTIP Units comprising each 2019 program Annual Award target grant was based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock reported on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on the date of grant. The number of target LTIP Units comprising each Long-Term Award target grant was based on the fair value of the Long-Term Awards as determined by an independent valuation consultant, in each case rounded to the nearest whole LTIP unit in order to eliminate fractional units.

Annual Awards. The Annual Awards are subject to the terms and conditions of LTIP Annual Award Agreements (“LTIP Annual Award Agreements”) between the Company and each grantee.

The Compensation Committee and Board established performance goals for fiscal year 2019, as set forth in Exhibit A to the 2019 LTIP Annual Award Agreements (the “Performance Goals”) that will be used to determine the number of LTIP Units earned by each grantee. As of September 30, 2019, management estimated that the Performance Goals would be met at a 100% level, and accordingly, applied 100% to the net target 2019 program Annual Awards to estimate the 2019 program Annual Awards expected to be earned at the end of the performance period. Cumulative stock-based compensation expense during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 reflects management’s estimate that 100% of these awards will be earned. As soon as reasonably practicable following the last day of the 2019 fiscal year, the Compensation Committee and Board will determine the extent to which the Company has achieved each of the Performance Goals (expressed as a percentage) and, based on such determination, will calculate the number of LTIP Units that each grantee is entitled to receive. Each grantee may earn up to 150% of the number of his/her target LTIP Units. Any 2019 Annual Award LTIP Units that are not earned will be forfeited and cancelled.

Vesting. LTIP Units that are earned as of the end of the applicable performance period will be subject to vesting, subject to continued employment through each vesting date, in two installments as follows: 50% of the earned LTIP Units will become vested on the date in 2020 that the Board approves the number of LTIP Units to be awarded pursuant to the performance components set forth in the 2019 LTIP Annual Award Agreements and 50% of the earned LTIP Units become vested on the one year anniversary of the initial vesting date. Vesting may be accelerated under certain circumstances such as a “change-in-control” transaction or a “qualified termination” event.

Distributions. Distributions equal to the dividends declared and paid by the Company will accrue during the applicable performance period on the maximum number of LTIP Units that the grantee could earn and will be paid with respect to all of the earned LTIP Units at the conclusion of the applicable performance period, in cash or by the issuance of additional LTIP Units at the discretion of the Compensation Committee.

Long-Term Awards. The Long-Term Awards are subject to the terms and conditions of 2017, 2018 and 2019 LTIP Long-Term Award Agreements (collectively the “LTIP Long-Term Award Agreements”) between the Company and each grantee. The number of LTIP Units that each grantee is entitled to earn under the LTIP Long-Term Award Agreements will be determined following the conclusion of a three-year performance period based on the Company’s total stockholder return (“TSR”), which is determined based on a combination of appreciation in stock price and dividends paid during the performance period. Each grantee may earn up to 200% of the number of target LTIP Units covered by the grantee’s Long-Term Award. Any target LTIP Units that are not earned will be forfeited and cancelled. The number of LTIP Units earned under the Long-Term Awards will be determined as soon as reasonably practicable following the end of the applicable three-year performance period (2020, 2021, or 2022 depending on the program) based on the Company’s TSR on an absolute basis (as to 75% of the Long-Term Award) and relative to the SNL Healthcare REIT Index (as to 25% of the Long-Term Award).

Vesting. LTIP Units that are earned as of the end of the applicable three year performance period will be subject to forfeiture restrictions that will lapse (“vesting”), subject to continued employment through each vesting date as follows; 50% of the earned LTIP Units will vest upon the third anniversary of the respective grant dates and the remaining 50% will vest on the fourth anniversary of the respective grant dates. Vesting may be accelerated under certain circumstances such as a “change-in-control” transaction or a “qualified termination” event.

Distributions. Pursuant to the LTIP Long-Term Award Agreements, distributions equal to the dividends declared and paid by the Company will accrue during the applicable performance period on the maximum number of LTIP Units that the grantee could earn and will be paid with respect to all of the earned LTIP Units at the conclusion of the applicable performance period, in cash or by the issuance of additional LTIP Units at the discretion of the Compensation Committee.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

In July 2018, the Company implemented the provisions of ASU 2018‑07, “Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018‑07”). This standard simplifies several aspects of the accounting for non-employee transactions by stipulating that the existing accounting guidance for share-based payments to employees (accounted for under ASC Topic 718, “Compensation-Stock Compensation”) will also apply to non-employee share-based transactions (accounted for under ASC Topic 505, “Equity”). Under the provisions of ASU 2018‑07, the Company’s prospective compensation expense for all unvested LTIP Units, Annual Awards, and Long-Term Awards is recognized using the adoption date fair value of the awards, with no remeasurement required. Compensation expense for future LTIP Unit grants, Annual Awards, and Long-Term Awards is based on the grant date fair value of the units/awards, with no subsequent remeasurement required.

As the Long-Term Awards involve market-based performance conditions, the Company utilizes a Monte Carlo simulation to provide a grant date fair value for expense recognition. The Monte Carlo simulation is a generally accepted statistical technique used, in this instance, to simulate a range of possible future stock prices for the Company and the members of the SNL Healthcare REIT Index (the “Index”) over the Performance Periods. The purpose of this modeling is to use a probabilistic approach for estimating the fair value of the performance share award for purposes of accounting under ASC Topic 718.

The assumptions used in the Monte Carlo simulation include beginning average stock price, valuation date stock price, expected volatilities, correlation coefficients, risk-free rate of interest, and expected dividend yield. The beginning average stock price is the beginning average stock price for the Company and each member of the Index for the five trading days leading up to the grant date of the Long-Term Award. The valuation date stock price is the closing stock price of the Company and each of the peer companies in the Index on the grant dates of the Long-Term Awards. The expected volatilities are modeled using the historical volatilities for the Company and the members of the Index. The correlation coefficients are calculated using the same data as the historical volatilities. The risk-free rate of interest is taken from the U.S. Treasury website and relates to the expected life of the remaining performance period on valuation or revaluation. Lastly, the dividend yield assumption is 0.0%, which is mathematically equivalent to reinvesting dividends in the issuing entity, which is part of the Company’s award agreement assumptions.

Below are details regarding certain of the assumptions for the Long-Term Awards using Monte Carlo simulations:

 

 

The Company incurred stock compensation expense of $868 and $2,493, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 , respectively, and $741 and $1,978, for the three and nine months ended September 30,2018, respectively, related to the grants awarded under the Plan. Compensation expense is included within “General and Administrative” expense in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

As of September 30, 2019, total unamortized compensation expense related to these awards of approximately $3.5 million is expected to be recognized over a weighted average remaining period of 1.5 years.