Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

As of December 31, 2017, we had 33,171,514 shares of common stock outstanding.

The Company began paying quarterly cash dividends on common stock in December 2013. We paid dividends of $4,969,335 and $3,801,962 to our common shareholders during the six months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. These dividend payments consisted of two quarterly dividends of $0.075 per share each during the six months ended December 31, 2017 and quarterly dividend payments of $0.05 and $0.065 per share during the six months ended December 31, 2016.

In May 2015, the Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program covering up to $5 million of the Company's common stock. Between June 2015 and December 2015, the Company spent $1,609,008 to repurchase 265,762 common shares at an average price of $6.05 per share. There have been no shares repurchased in the open market since 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 six months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company acquired treasury stock from holders of newly vested stock-based awards to fund the recipients' payroll tax withholding obligations. The treasury shares were subsequently canceled. Such shares were valued at fair market value on the date of vesting, as reflected in the following table:



	Six Months Ended December 31,
	2017		2016
Number of treasury shares acquired	55,018		73,455
Average cost per share	$	7.19	$	6.26
Total cost of treasury shares acquired	$	395,550	$	459,858

Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock Called for Redemption

In September 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 in November 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 six months ended December 31, 2016, we paid cash dividends of $250,990 to holders of our Series A Preferred Stock prior to the November 2016 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 December 31, 2017 and are subject to change based on our final tax calculations at the end of the fiscal year.