Intuitive Surgical Announces New Employee Option Grants For March

(RTTNews) - Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) said that equity awards approved by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, which consists entirely of Independent Directors, were made to 49 new employees.

NASDAQ rules require a public announcement of equity awards to be made under this type of plan. 49 employees were granted a combination of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Stock Options to purchase an aggregate of 12,205 shares of the Company's common stock; 9,119 of the shares granted were Stock Options and 3,086 of the shares granted were RSUs. Both the RSUs and Stock Options vest over four years.

The Stock Options expire in 10 years assuming continued employment. No officers received any award under this plan. The exercise price for the Stock Options granted is $494.04 which was the closing price of Intuitive Surgical, Inc.'s common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market as such price was reported by NASDAQ on March 6, 2015.

The Company's policy is to issue RSUs and Stock Option grants to new employees, where equity makes sense, on the fifth business day of every calendar month.