Meritage Homes Corporation Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

STOCK BASED AND DEFERRED COMPENSATION (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Below is a summary of compensation expense and stock award activity (dollars in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019		2018
Stock-based compensation expense	$	5,861	$	5,209
Non-vested shares granted	377,514		306,164
Performance-based non-vested shares granted	94,152		157,637
Restricted stock awards vested (includes performance-based awards)	400,323		301,575

The following table includes additional information regarding our Stock Plans (dollars in thousands):



	As of
	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Unrecognized stock-based compensation cost	$	28,410	$	24,954
Weighted average years expense recognition period	2.95		2.24
Total equity awards outstanding ⁽¹⁾	1,356,443		1,301,745


(1)	Includes unvested restricted stock, performance-based awards (assuming 100% payout) and restricted stock units.