EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Earnings per common share is computed after deducting any preferred dividends, if applicable. The Company has granted restricted share awards with dividend rights that are considered to be participating securities. Accordingly, a portion of the Company’s earnings is allocated to those participating securities in the earnings per share calculation. Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing income available to common stockholders after the allocation of dividends and undistributed earnings to the participating securities by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted earnings per common share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised, and is computed after giving consideration to the weighted average dilutive effect of the Company’s stock options and after the allocation of earnings to the participating securities. Antidilutive options are disregarded in earnings per share calculations.

A reconciliation of net income and common stock share amounts used in the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share is presented below.


	For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30,
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)	2020		2019		2018
Basic income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	104,720	$	97,004	$	51,620
Weighted average common shares outstanding	35,651,709		38,880,919		30,737,499
Basic income per common share	$	2.94	$	2.49	$	1.68

Diluted income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	104,720	$	97,004	$	51,620
Weighted average common shares outstanding	35,651,709		38,880,919		30,737,499
Outstanding options - based upon the two-class method	—		40,718		115,551
Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding	35,651,709		38,921,637		30,853,050
Diluted income per common share	$	2.94	$	2.49	$	1.67