EQUITY

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

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 three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:



	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020		2019
Beginning common shares outstanding	105,169,515		104,783,179
Grants under the Equity Plan	676,171		537,304
Common Unit redemptions	4,956		—
Performance share and other forfeitures	(210,897	)	(166,478	)
Shares retained for employee tax withholding requirements	(65,345	)	(73,892	)
Ending common shares outstanding	105,574,400		105,080,113

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 90,600,000 is currently undesignated, 3,000,000 shares have been designated as 6.45% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the "Series D preferred shares") and 6,400,000 shares have been designated as 6.25% Series E Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the "Series E preferred shares").

The Company's outstanding shares of preferred stock (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 D or Series E preferred shares prior to June 28, 2021 and November 13, 2022, 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 D preferred share is 3.9216 shares of common stock and each Series E preferred share is 3.1686 shares of common stock, all subject to certain adjustments.

The Company pays dividends at an annual rate of $1.6125 for each Series D preferred share and $1.5625 for each Series E 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, 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 Common Units 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 March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, unaffiliated third parties owned 204,065 and 209,021 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 Statements of Operations as Net income attributable to non-controlling interests of the Operating Partnership.

Non-controlling Interests in Joint Venture

In July 2019, the Company entered into a joint venture agreement with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to acquire assets that align with the Company’s current investment strategy and criteria. The Company serves as general partner and asset manager of the joint venture and intends to invest 51% of the equity capitalization of the limited partnership, with GIC investing the remaining 49%. The Company earns fees for providing services to the joint venture and will have the potential to earn incentive fees based on the joint venture achieving certain return thresholds. As of March 31, 2020, the joint venture owns the five hotel properties acquired in 2019.

The joint venture owns the hotels through a master real estate investment trust (“Master REIT”) and subsidiary REITs (“Subsidiary REIT”). All of the hotels owned by the joint venture are leased to taxable REIT subsidiaries of the Subsidiary REITs (“Subsidiary REIT TRSs”). To qualify as a REIT, the Master REIT and each Subsidiary REIT must meet all of the REIT requirements summarized under “Note 2 - Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies - Income Taxes.” Taxable income related to the Subsidiary REIT TRSs is subject to federal, state and local income taxes at applicable tax rates.

We classify the Non-controlling interests in the joint venture as a component of equity in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The portion of net income (losses) allocated to these non-controlling interests is reported on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations as Net income (losses) attributable to non-controlling interests of the joint venture.