Earnings per Share (“EPS”)

Basic EPS is calculated by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. Unvested RSA’s, although legally issued and outstanding, are

not

considered outstanding for purposes of calculating basic earnings per share. Diluted EPS is calculated by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding plus the dilutive effect, if any, of outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights (“SAR’s”), RSA’s, and RSU’s using the treasury stock method.

The following table provides share information used in the calculation of the Company's basic and diluted earnings per share:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Shares used in the calculation of basic earnings per share		14,575		14,682		14,934
Effect of dilutive securities:
Stock options, SAR's, RSA's and RSU's		493		434		387
Diluted shares used in the calculation of earnings per share		15,068		15,116		15,321

Stock options to purchase

0.5

million shares,

0.4

million shares, and

0.2

million shares for the years ended

December 31, 2017,

2016,

and

2015,

respectively, were excluded from the computation of diluted EPS as their effect would have been anti-dilutive. The anti-dilutive restricted shares for the years

2017,

2016

and

2015

were

not

significant.

December

31,

2017,

2016,

and

2015,

0.1

million shares of issued and outstanding unvested RSA’s were excluded from the basic earnings per share.

February 26, 2016,

the Company entered into an accelerated stock repurchase agreement with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) pursuant to a Fixed Dollar Accelerated Share Repurchase Transaction (“ASR Agreement") to purchase

$25.0

million of shares of its common stock. Pursuant to the terms of the ASR Agreement, the Company paid Morgan Stanley

$25.0

million in cash and received an initial delivery of

0.4

million shares of the Company’s common stock on

February

29,

2016

based on a closing market price of

$46.40

per share and the applicable contractual discount.

August 26, 2016,

the Company settled the approximately

$7.5

million remaining under the ASR Agreement, which was recorded as an equity forward sale contract and was included in additional paid-in capital in stockholders' equity in the consolidated balance sheet as it met the criteria for equity accounting. Pursuant to the terms of the ASR Agreement, the final number of shares and the average purchase price was determined at the end of the applicable purchase period, which was

August 26, 2016.

Based on the volume-weighted average price since the effective date of the ASR Agreement less the applicable contractual discount, Morgan Stanley delivered

0.1

million additional shares to the Company on

August 31, 2016.

In total,

0.5

million shares were repurchased under the ASR Agreement at an average repurchase price of

$47.08

per share. These shares are held by the Company as authorized but unissued shares pursuant to Massachusetts law. The initial and final delivery of shares resulted in immediate reductions of the outstanding shares used to calculate the weighted-average common shares outstanding for basic and diluted net income per share.