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

STOCK BASED AND DEFERRED COMPENSATION (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

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



	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Stock-based compensation expense	$	3,767	$	2,490	$	8,976	$	5,785
Non-vested shares granted	—		—		306,164		416,500
Performance-based non-vested shares granted	—		—		157,637		154,120
Restricted stock awards vested (includes performance-based awards)	17,137		6,190		318,712		289,764

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



	As of
	June 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Unrecognized stock-based compensation cost	$	25,155	$	18,439
Weighted average years expense recognition period	2.71		2.48
Total equity awards outstanding ⁽¹⁾	1,331,946		1,269,657


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