Apple leadership reap up to $60M each in vested stock bonus

Revealed in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings made public on Monday, Maestri and Williams both acquired 519,080 shares of Apple stock on Oct. 1, a lode worth just under $60.5 million at the end of trading today. Adams saw 459,856 RSUs worth nearly $53.6 million vest on the Oct. 1 conversion date.

Apple withheld 275,649 shares from Maestri and Williams' awards, and 227,496 shares from Adams, to satisfy tax laws.

Williams on Oct. 2 sold 257,343 shares in multiple trades ranging from $113.02 to $114.41, equating to about $29.2 million in proceeds. He currently holds 489,260 shares. Following the grant, Maestri retains 353,703 shares and Adams owns 323,396 shares.

The executives' bonuses are distributed on a yearly bases and derived from a target number of RSUs scheduled to vest based on Apple's total shareholder return relative to other companies in the S&P 500. Last week's award was calculated on share performance during a three-year period from Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 26, 2020. Further, the RSUs vested in accordance with Apple's 4-to-1 stock split at the end of August.

As detailed in the documents, TSR is calculated based on a change in AAPL share price during the three-year period. At the start date in 2015, Apple stock was valued at $39.20, while the ending value as of Sept. 26 was calculated to be $121.12, adjusting for dividends. For the observed period, Apple's TSR was 208.96%.

In comparison to other companies in the S&P 500, Apple's performance ranked fourth out of 472 firms, putting it in the 99th percentile.

As with past awards, the bonus structure allows for between 0 and 200 percent of the target number of RSUs to vest, depending on performance. Anything above the 85th percentile satisfies requirements for a full 200 percent award.