Every month, Compliance Week publishes a list of the largest stock option grants and restricted stock awards during the previous period. The data and analysis are provided by compensation research firm Equilar.

THE DATA

Please note that all values are rough “face value” numbers that are calculated by data provider Equilar by multiplying the number of shares in the grant by the market price per share on the grant date.

Latest Data

The spreadsheet below includes the “Top 10” lists for all previous months in 2009 in separate tabs.

View the Top Equity Awards Made in Dec.

Prior Years’ Data

View Equity Awards From Each Month in 2008

View Equity Awards From Each Month in 2007

View Equity Awards From Each Month in 2006

View Equity Awards From Each Month in 2005

View Equity Awards From Each Month in 2004

Source: Equilar Inc.

Rothblatt

The largest equity compensation award in December went to Martine Rothblatt, the long-time chief executive of United Therapeutics. On Dec. 31 Rothblatt received a grant of 625,396 options with a strike price of $52.65, implying a face value of $32.9 million. Earlier in the fall, UT reported quarterly earnings with higher revenue, net income and gross margins.

Other companies giving large stock option awards in December included Valeant Pharmaceuticals, St. Jude Medical, Deer & Co., and Universal Health Services.

The largest restricted stock award for December went to Jay Allison, chairman and president of Comstock Resources, an oil services business based in Texas. Allison received 225,000 shares on Dec. 9 worth $8.2 million, based on a grant-date share price of $36.46.

Other companies giving large grants of stock in December included Valeant again, Comcast, Millipore Corp., Cephalon, and Hewitt Associates.

A downloadable spreadsheet of those awards can be found in the box above, right.

Trends, Performance

The granting of premium-priced options continues to be spotty, with only one such award given in December: On Dec. 31, MDC Holdings granted options to two executives with an exercise price 10 percent higher than the company’s closing stock price of $31.04.

Awards are considered premium priced when the exercise price of the grant is higher than the stock price on the grant date. Such awards are not well loved by executives, as the awards are immediately “underwater,” so the company’s stock price has to rise to the level of the exercise price for the award to have any value.

December saw no grants of options with shorter-term lengths. Shorter vesting terms have been popular because they can lessen the effect of stock-option expensing, and prior to the financial crisis they were commonplace. In the last two years, however, the awarding of such grants has been more rare.

Equilar also noted that companies continue to issue performance-based grants of options or awards of restricted stock. On Dec. 31, United Therapeutics granted options to one executive with the following performance-related footnote:

“2009 incentive stock option award made in accordance with the terms of reporting person’s employment agreement, as amended, which grants the reporting person an annual award of stock options to purchase the number of shares of common stock that is equal to one-18th of one percent of the increase in the company’s market capitalization from its average in December of each year based on the average closing bid price of the company’s stock for the month of December.”

On Dec. 2, Zenith National Insurance Corp. granted restricted stock to six executives with the following performance-related footnote:

“Award of restricted stock with performance-based vesting provisions. Restrictions will lapse only if the workers’ compensation combined ratio of the Issuer for the three years ending Dec. 31, 2012 is at least five percentage points below the industry average for the same three-year period.”

And on Dec. 7, Compuware granted restricted stock units to three executives with the following performance-related footnote:

“Granted under the 2007 Long Term Incentive Plan, units vest based on specific performance criteria set forth for Compuware’s subsidiary Covisint Corp. and will be payable in common stock on the vest date. 100 percent vesting will occur if Covisint recognizes revenue exceeding $150 million in any four consecutive completed calendar quarters prior to 8-26-2015, upon change of control of Compuware, or upon death or disability of the Reporting Person. Units will cancel upon third-party acquisition of Covisint, on 8-26-2015 if the vest condition is not met, or at any time the compensation committee exercises its discretion to reduce or eliminate the award.”

A downloadable spreadsheet of the top 10 equity awards in December and the rest of 2009 can be found in the box above, right. Also available are data from 2004-2008.