SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

9.	SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY:

Common and Preferred Stock

The Company is authorized to issue 100 million shares of $0.01 par value common stock and five million shares of $0.01 par value preferred stock. Each share of the Company’s common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters to be voted upon by the shareholders. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had issued 48,574,065 shares of common stock of which 47,212,428 were outstanding and had issued 200,000 shares of preferred stock, all of which were outstanding. During the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company repurchased 3,774 shares of $0.01 par value common treasury stock valued at $477,000.

Scientific Advisory Board and Employee Awards

During the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company granted a total of 2,456 and 5,590 shares, respectively, of fully vested common stock to employees and non-employee members of the Scientific Advisory Board for services performed in 2017 and 2016, respectively. The fair value of shares issued to members of the Scientific Advisory Board was $300,000 for both three-month periods. No fully vested common stock was issued to employees during the three months ended March 31, 2018 and the fair value of the shares issued to employees during the three months ended March 31, 2017 was $165,000. In connection with the issuance of these grants, 605 shares, with fair value of $55,000, were withheld in satisfaction of employee tax withholding obligations in 2017.

Dividends

During the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company declared and paid cash dividends of $0.06 per common share, or $2.8 million, on the Company’s outstanding common stock.

On May 1, 2018, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a second quarter dividend of $0.06 per common share to be paid on June 29, 2018. All future dividends will be subject to the approval of the Company’s Board of Directors.