Note 11 - Stock Options

In September 2011, the Company adopted the 2011 Employee Stock Incentive Plan which provides for the granting of incentive and non-statutory common stock options and stock based incentive awards to employees, non-employee directors, consultants and independent contractors. The plan was amended and restated in May 2014. Incentive stock options are granted at exercise prices not less than 100% of the estimated fair market value of the underlying common stock at date of grant. The exercise price per share for incentive stock options may not be less than 110% of the estimated fair value of the underlying common stock on the grant date for any individual possessing more that 10% of the total outstanding common stock of the Company. Unless terminated sooner by the Board of Directors, this plan will terminate on August 31, 2021.

Options granted under the Company’s plan vest over periods ranging from immediately to four years and are exercisable over periods not exceeding ten years. The aggregate number of shares that may be awarded under the Company’s plan as of December 31, 2016 is 450,402. As of March 31, 2017, 381,330 of options were granted to employees and consultants of the Company (including 41,667 shares outside of our plan) and 110,739 options were available for future grant under our plan.

During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company granted options for the purchase of 25,627 shares of common stock to employees and directors of the Company. These options vest pro-rata over 48 months and have a life of ten years and an exercise price of $3.90 per share. The Company valued the stock options using the Black-Scholes option valuation model and the fair value of the awards was determined to be $51,000. The fair value of the common stock as of the grant date was determined to be $3.90 per share.

During the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company recorded a charge of $283,000 and $364,000, respectively, for the amortization of employee stock options.

As of March 31, 2017, the fair value of non-vested options totaled $1,993,000 which will be amortized to expense over the weighted average remaining term of 1.23 years.

The fair value of each employee option grant is estimated on the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Key weighted-average assumptions used to apply this pricing model during the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 were as follows:

The expected stock price volatility for the Company’s stock options was determined by the historical volatilities for industry peers and used an average of those volatilities. The Company attributes the value of stock-based compensation to operations on the straight-line single option method. Risk free interest rates were obtained from U.S. Treasury rates for the applicable periods. The dividends assumptions was $0 as the Company historically has not declared any dividends and does not expect to.