Equity Awards Disclosure under Section 16 of the Exchange Act

Summary

This practice note discusses some common transactions involving equity awards that must be reported by the officers of a reporting company under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934(Exchange Act). Section 16(a) (15 U.S.C. § 78p) requires directors, officers, and principal stockholders of companies with a class of equity securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. § 78l) to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) their ownership of equity securities in the company (registered and unregistered and including securities exercisable for or convertible into equity securities) and any transactions in any such securities (with limited exceptions) as they occur. These reports are often prepared by the registrant or its counsel on behalf of its executive officers.