EQUITY

Common Stock

The Company is authorized to issue up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share. Each outstanding share of our common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, including the election of directors and, except as may be provided with respect to any other class or series of stock, the holders of such shares possess the exclusive voting power.

Changes in common stock during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 were as follows:



	For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016		2015
Beginning common shares outstanding	86,793,521		86,149,720
Grants under the Equity Plan	446,686		320,845
Common Unit redemptions	61,056		172,429
Exercise of stock options	37,684		—
Annual grants to independent directors	32,180		30,440
Common stock issued for director fees	5,851		4,716
Forfeitures	(406	)	(46,030	)
Shares retained for employee tax withholding requirements	(61,622	)	(36,385	)
Ending common shares outstanding	87,314,950		86,595,735

Preferred Stock

The Company is authorized to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share, of which 88,600,000 is currently undesignated and 2,000,000 shares have been designated as 9.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the “Series A preferred shares”), 3,000,000 shares have been designated as 7.875% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the “Series B preferred shares”), 3,400,000 shares have been designated as 7.125% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the “Series C preferred shares”), and 3,000,000 shares have been designated as 6.45% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the "Series D preferred shares").

The Company completed the offering of 3,000,000 Series D preferred shares on June 28, 2016 for net proceeds of $72.3 million, after the underwriting discount and offering-related expenses of $2.7 million.

On October 28, 2016, the Company paid $50.7 million to redeem all 2,000,000 of its outstanding Series A preferred shares at a redemption price of $25 per share plus accrued and unpaid dividends.

The Company's preferred shares (collectively, “Preferred Shares”) rank senior to our common stock and on parity with each other with respect to the payment of dividends and distributions of assets in the event of a liquidation, dissolution, or winding up. The Preferred Shares do not have any maturity date and are not subject to mandatory redemption or sinking fund requirements. The Company may not redeem the Series B preferred shares, Series C preferred shares or Series D preferred shares prior to December 11, 2017, March 20, 2018, and June 28, 2021, respectively, except in limited circumstances relating to the Company’s continuing qualification as a REIT or in connection with certain changes in control. After those dates, the Company may, at its option, redeem the applicable Preferred Shares, in whole or from time to time in part, by payment of $25 per share, plus any accumulated, accrued and unpaid distributions up to, but not including, the date of redemption. If the Company does not exercise its rights to redeem the Preferred Shares upon certain changes in control, the holders of the Preferred Shares have the right to convert some or all of their shares into a number of the Company’s common shares based on a defined formula, subject to a share cap, or alternative consideration. The share cap on each Series B preferred share is 5.6497 shares of common stock, each Series C preferred share is 5.1440 shares of common stock, and each Series D preferred share is 3.9216 shares of common stock, all subject to certain adjustments.

The Company pays dividends at an annual rate of $1.96875 for each Series B preferred share, $1.78125 for each Series C preferred share, and $1.6125 for each Series D preferred share. Dividend payments are made quarterly in arrears on or about the last day of February, May, August and November of each year.

Non-controlling Interests in Operating Partnership

Pursuant to the limited partnership agreement of our Operating Partnership, beginning on February 14, 2012, the unaffiliated third parties who hold Common Units in our Operating Partnership have the right to cause us to redeem their Common Units in exchange for cash based upon the fair value of an equivalent number of our shares of common stock at the time of redemption; however, the Company has the option to redeem with shares of our common stock on a one-for-one basis. The number of shares of our common stock issuable upon redemption of Common Units may be adjusted upon the occurrence of certain events such as share dividend payments, share subdivisions or combinations.

At September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, unaffiliated third parties owned 454,965 and 516,021 Common Units of the Operating Partnership, respectively, representing less than a 1% limited partnership interest in the Operating Partnership for each period.

We classify outstanding Common Units held by unaffiliated third parties as non-controlling interests in the Operating Partnership, a component of equity in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The portion of net income allocated to these Common Units is reported on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations as net income attributable to non-controlling interests of the Operating Partnership.

Leasehold Venture

At December 31, 2015, we owned a majority interest in a joint venture that owned a fee simple interest in a hotel property and we also owned a minority interest in a related joint venture (“Leasehold Venture”) that held a leasehold interest in the property. On June 30, 2016, our joint venture partner in the Leasehold Venture exercised a put option to sell its joint venture interest in the Leasehold Venture to us for $0.4 million. We finalized the transaction in July 2016 and we now own 100% of the fee simple interest and leasehold interest in the hotel property effective July 31, 2016.