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

STOCK BASED AND DEFERRED COMPENSATION (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

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



	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
Stock-based compensation expense	$	2,555	$	3,835	$	7,313	$	8,465
Non-vested shares granted	—		15,000		493,865		403,787
Performance-based non-vested shares granted	—		—		66,698		66,187
Stock options exercised	3,200		200		14,400		143,640
Restricted stock awards vested (includes performance-based awards)	29,465		44,134		334,550		370,204

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



	As of
	June 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
Unrecognized stock-based compensation cost	$	25,139	$	18,545
Weighted average years expense recognition period	3.08		2.34
Total stock-based awards outstanding ⁽¹⁾	1,224,785		1,078,877


(1)	Includes options outstanding and unvested restricted stock and performance-based awards (at target level) and restricted stock units.