NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - More corporate boards are tying executive pay to company performance, according to a report published Tuesday.

Last year, 30 out of 100 major corporations based a portion of the equity granted to their CEOs on performance targets, according to an analysis of proxy statements conducted for The Wall Street Journal by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

The practice of linking the stock and stock options included in CEO pay packages to performance targets is becoming more popular among major companies, up from 23 in 2004 and 17 in 2003, as more complaints are being voiced about excessive executive compensation, the Journal said.

Half of the country's big companies will use such awards by the end of this year as they seek to link CEO pay to performance, a Mercer consultant predicted in the report.

Performance targets are aimed to keep executives from pocketing huge sums for reasons unrelated to their leadership skills, the newspaper reported. Stock options, for instance, can gain value in a rising stock market, allowing CEOs to reap rewards even if their own companies' earnings growth is modest, the Journal said.

Some companies base performance on the achievement of financial goals, while others set the exercise price for stock options well above the stock's current price, ensuring that the CEO doesn't profit from the options unless the share price rises significantly, rewarding shareholders as well, the newspaper said.

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