Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

As of September 30, 2017, we had 33,066,717 shares of common stock outstanding.

Effective December 31, 2013, the Board of Directors initiated a quarterly cash dividend on our common stock at the rate of $0.10 per share per quarter. The rate was subsequently adjusted to $0.05 per share for the dividend payments from March 31, 2015 to September 30, 2016. During fiscal year 2017, the Board made two increases to the quarterly cash dividend resulting in rates of $0.065 per share for the December 31, 2016 dividend payment and $0.07 per share for the March 31, 2017 and June 30, 2017 dividend payments. The Board made a further increase to $0.075 per share for the September 30, 2017 dividend payment.

We paid cash dividends of $2,481,471 ($0.075 per share) and $1,652,290 ($0.05 per share) to our common shareholders during the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

On May 12, 2015, the Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program covering up to $5 million of the Company's common stock. Since commencing in June 2015, the Company spent $1,609,008 to repurchase 265,762 shares at an average price of $6.05 per share. There have been no shares repurchased in the open market since mid-December 2015. Under the program's terms, shares are repurchased only on the open market and in accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such shares are initially recorded as treasury stock, then subsequently canceled. The timing and amount of repurchases depends upon several factors, including financial resources and market and business conditions. There is no fixed termination date for this repurchase program, and it may be suspended or discontinued at any time.

During the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, the Company acquired treasury stock from holders of newly vested stock-based awards to fund the recipients' payroll taxes paid in the quarter. Such shares were valued at fair market value on the date of vesting. The treasury shares were subsequently canceled.



	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2017		2016
Number of treasury shares acquired	15,284		58,147
Average cost per share	$	7.25	$	5.68
Total cost of treasury shares acquired	$	110,753	$	330,070

Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock Called for Redemption

On September 30, 2016, the Company announced the decision to redeem all 317,319 outstanding shares of its 8.5% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock. The redemption occurred on November 14, 2016 at the stated value of $25.00 per share plus all accumulated and unpaid distributions, for an aggregate redemption cost of $7,932,975.

On September 30, 2016, in connection with the planned redemption, the Company recorded a deemed dividend of $1,002,440, representing the difference between the redemption consideration paid and the historical net issuance proceeds of the preferred shares. Accordingly, net income was adjusted for this deemed dividend to determine net income attributable to common shareholders and earnings per common share.

Dividends on the Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock were paid at a fixed rate of 8.5% per annum on the $25.00 per share liquidation preference, payable monthly. During the three months ended September 30, 2016, we paid cash dividends of $168,575 to holders of our Series A Preferred Stock and accrued $82,415 of remaining dividends which were paid on the November redemption date.

Expected Tax Treatment of Dividends

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, all preferred and common dividends were treated for tax purposes as qualified dividend income to recipients. Based on our current projections for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, we expect all common dividends for such period to be treated as qualified dividend income. Such projections are based on our reasonable expectations as of September 30, 2017 and are subject to change based on our final tax calculations at the end of the fiscal year.