Ring Energy, Inc. Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS

EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]

NOTE 7 EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS

Compensation expense charged against income for share-based awards during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, was $650,968 and $1,962,142, respectively, as compared to $630,766 and $1,930,335, respectively, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014. These amounts are included in general and administrative expense in the accompanying financial statements.

In 2011, the Board of Directors and stockholders approved and adopted a long-term incentive plan which allowed for the issuance of up to 2,500,000 shares of common stock through the grant of qualified stock options, non-qualified stock options and restricted stock. In 2013, the Company’s stockholders approved an amendment to the long-term incentive plan, increasing the number of shares eligible under the plan to 5,000,000 shares. As of September 30, 2015, there were 2,132,750 shares remaining eligible for issuance under the plan.

The fair value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and using certain assumptions. The expected volatility is based on the historical price volatility of the Company’s common stock. The Company uses the simplified method for estimating the expected term for options granted. Under the simplified method, the expected term is equal to the midpoint between the vesting period and the contractual term of the stock option. The risk-free interest rate represents the U.S. Treasury bill rate for the expected life of the related stock options. The dividend yield represents the Company’s anticipated cash dividend over the expected life of the stock options. The following are the assumptions used to determine the fair value of options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014:

	2015			2014
Weighted-average volatility		103	%		114	%
Expected dividends		0			0
Expected term (in years)		6.5			6.5
Risk-free interest rate		1.32	%		1.58	%

A summary of the stock option activity as of September 30, 2015, and changes during the nine months then ended is as follows:

					Weighted-
			Weighted-		Average
			Average		Remaining	Aggregate
			Exercise		Contractual	Intrinsic
	Shares		Price		Term	Value
Outstanding, December 31, 2014		2,684,500	$	4.67
Granted		3,750	$	10.89
Exercised		(65,000)		3.42
Outstanding, September 30, 2015		2,623,250	$	4.71	7.3 Years	$	13,816,590
Exercisable, September 30, 2015		974,000	$	3.70	6.8 Years

The intrinsic value was calculated using the closing price on September 30, 2015 of $9.87. As of September 30, 2015, there was approximately $3,123,144 of unrecognized compensation cost related to stock options that is expected be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.2 years. The total intrinsic value of options exercised during the nine months ended September 30, 2015, was $1,553,050.