Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Equity Incentive Plan

v3.22.1
Equity Incentive Plan
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Equity Incentive Plan  
Equity Incentive Plan

Note 10 — Equity Incentive Plan

In May 2013, the Company adopted the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (as amended and restated, the “Plan”) and reserved shares of common stock for issuance under the Plan, which was last amended in June 2021. As a result of the last amendment, the number of shares authorized for issuance under the Plan increased by 500,000 shares and the Plan will now terminate in June 2031, unless sooner terminated or extended by the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”).The Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board.At December 31, 2021, there were 419,791 shares of common stock available for issuance under the Plan.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company granted 31,821 stock options to Board members, 100,000 restricted units to executives and 100,000 stock options to employees under the Plan. The estimated fair value of these equity grants, calculated using the Black-Scholes option valuation model for the stock options, was $2,078,872, of which $327,414 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2021.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company granted 52,791 stock options to Board members, 168,400 stock options to executives and 5,500 stock options to employees under the Plan. The estimated fair value of these stock options, calculated using the Black-Scholes option valuation model, was $758,214, of which $754,369 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020.

In April 2020, the Board approved a modification of a stock option grant to Dr. Lon E. Bell in connection with his retirement as Chief Executive Officer and President. The modification accelerated the vesting of Dr. Bell’s October 2019 stock option grant with full vesting effective immediately prior to the end of Dr. Bell’s term on the Board in June 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recognized $79,444 of expense related to this grant subsequent to the modification.

As permitted by SAB 107, management utilizes the simplified approach to estimate the expected term of stock options, which represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding. The risk-free interest rate for periods within the contractual life of the option is based on the U.S. treasury yield in effect at the time of grant. The volatility is estimated based on the historical volatilities of comparable companies. The Company has never declared or paid dividends and has no plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model are as follows:

For the year ended December 31, 

 

    

2021

    

2020

 

Average risk-free interest rate

 

0.97

%  

0.83

%

Expected dividend yield

 

%  

%

Expected life

 

5.31 to 6.00 years

 

5.00 to 6.25 years

Expected volatility

 

90

%  

90

%

A summary of the Company’s stock option activity and related information is as follows:

2021

2020

    

    

    

Weighted

    

    

    

Weighted

Weighted

Average 

Weighted

Average 

Average 

Remaining 

Average 

Remaining 

Stock

Exercise 

Life 

Stock

Exercise 

Life 

Options

Price

(in years)

Options

Price

(in years)

Outstanding at January 1

 

391,650

$

5.70

 

8.1

 

169,980

$

8.13

 

9.1

Granted

 

131,821

$

11.42

 

  

 

226,691

$

4.84

 

  

Exercised

 

(27,934)

$

3.27

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

Forfeited / Expired

 

(2,651)

$

8.04

 

  

 

(5,021)

$

49.39

 

  

Outstanding at December 31

 

492,886

$

7.35

 

7.6

 

391,650

$

5.70

 

8.1

Exercisable at December 31

 

378,470

$

6.17

 

7.1

 

364,567

$

5.91

 

8.0

The following table sets forth additional information about stock options outstanding at December 31, 2021:

    

    

Weighted

    

    

Average

Weighted

Remaining

Average

Options

Life

Exercise

Options

Range of Exercise Prices

Outstanding

(in years)

Price

Exercisable

$1.99 – $2.85

 

184,557

 

6.5

$

2.51

 

170,641

$4.25 – $8.04

 

161,770

 

8.6

$

7.09

 

161,270

$10.41 – $17.25

 

142,206

 

8.0

$

12.67

 

42,206

$31.50 – $79.40

 

4,353

 

4.6

$

48.50

 

4,353

 

492,886

 

  

 

  

 

378,470

Stock options granted under the Plan have ten-year terms and generally vest immediately or annually over a three-year or four-year vesting period except for option grants to independent directors that generally vest quarterly over a one-year vesting period.

The estimated aggregate pretax intrinsic value (the difference between the Company’s stock price on the last day of the year ended December 31, 2021 and the exercise prices, multiplied by the number of in-the-money options) is $2.7 million for outstanding options of which $2.4 million relates to vested options. This amount changes based on the fair value of the Company’s stock.

As of December 31, 2021, there was $1,758,931 of unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested share-based compensation arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.4 years.