Shareholder's Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

14. Shareholder’s Equity

The Company has in place a stock repurchase program whereby it may purchase outstanding shares of its common stock from time-to-time, in open market transactions or negotiated sales. The Company uses the cost method to account for its treasury share purchases. Effective December 21, 2018, pursuant to a vote of the shareholders amending the Articles of Incorporation, the authorized shares of common stock were reduced from 4,000,000 to 2,810,000 shares. The amendment was filed with the Secretary of State in Delaware. The cost of the cancelled shares was determined by use of the first-in, first out valuation method. The cost of reacquired shares was $28,775,000. The cost was allocated between the par value ($

0.10

) of the shares cancelled; the excess of cost over the par value to paid in capital based upon the average per share amount of paid in capital ($

1.43

) for all shares from the original issuance; and the excess was charged to retained earnings.