Company: SYBT
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001437749-25-007118
Chunk: 47

Company: Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 47
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 our NEOs’ base salaries and determined that those salaries for all NEOs, except Ms. Budnick, remained aligned with the responsibility level of each executive and the levels of similar executives with our peers. Based on that determination and an expected earnings decline in 2024, the Committee determined that no changes should be made to the base salaries for NEOs (except Ms. Budnick) for 2024. In January 2024, the Board and Committee approved a base salary increase for Ms. Budnick as a result of her increased responsibilities resulting from her promotion to EVP and Director of WM&T.

Annual Cash Incentives. The Committee undertook a rigorous process to set the performance targets for 2024, taking into account the previous year’s performance targets, actual results, and the evolving credit risk environment. The Committee reviewed our NEOs’ target annual incentive opportunities and determined that those for all NEOs, except Ms. Budnick, remained aligned with our peers and that no changes would be made to the target opportunities for these NEOs in 2024. In January 2024, the Board and Committee approved a target annual incentive opportunity increase for Ms. Budnick in connection with her promotion to EVP and Director of WM&T. Annual cash incentive opportunities for three of our NEOs, Messrs. Hillebrand, Poindexter, and Stinnett, are tied exclusively to Company profitability, as measured by EPS. Mr. Rehm’s and Ms. Budnick’s short-term incentive plans incorporate goals related to their line of business responsibilities, as well as Company profitability.

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Messrs. Hillebrand, Poindexter, and Stinnett

The performance metric utilized for Messrs. Hillebrand, Poindexter, and Stinnett was diluted EPS. The target performance goal for 2024 was set approximately 13% lower than the 2023 EPS target, but exceeded consensus analyst estimates at the time. The 2024 actual adjusted EPS was expected to be significantly impacted by market conditions affecting the entire financial services industry, including declining interest rates, net interest margin compression and increasing credit costs. These factors resulted in lower net income budget expectations for 2024, as compared to 2023 results.

The EPS metric carried a performance threshold of 95.8% of target and a performance maximum of 105.1% of target. The Committee utilizes the EPS metric because it believes EPS drives long-term total shareholder return (“TSR”), as it represents