Number of S&P 500 CEOs Receiving Equity Grants Slides

The biggest season for equity grants, December-February, has wrapped up, and Equilar is comparing the Form 4 filings of S&P 500 CEOs to the same time last year, with some interesting results. The percentage of CEOs receiving no equity grants at all rose from 53 percent last year to 60.8 percent this year, surprising given the combination of the market rebound and lowered performance goals in recent months. It\’s possible that some of this is from companies shifting their grant periods, but that still leaves some CEOs out in the cold.

For those who got bonuses in both years, grant sizes went down, but the market\’s new life caused values to go up, making the difference from last year essentially a wash: overall value rose about 0.5 percent. Also, companies seem to be shifting away from stock or stock/options mixes to pure options. (Yes, it\’s the SEC\’s favorite game show: Pay for Performance!) It should be interesting to see if this trend holds as we continue our journey into the heart of proxy season. Check out the report here.