CAPITAL STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

NOTE 7. CAPITAL STOCK

Common Stock Issuances

During 2019, the Company completed the following public offerings of shares of its common stock. There were no common stock issuances through public offerings during the year ended December 31, 2018.

($ in thousands, except per share amounts)
			Weighted
			Average
			Price
			Received			Net
Type of Offering	Period		Per Share⁽¹⁾	Shares		Proceeds⁽²⁾
2019
At the Market Offering Program⁽³⁾	First Quarter	$	6.84	1,267,894	$	8,503
At the Market Offering Program⁽³⁾	Second Quarter		6.70	4,337,931		28,495
At the Market Offering Program⁽³⁾	Third Quarter		6.37	1,771,301		11,098
Follow-on Offering⁽³⁾	Third Quarter		6.35	7,000,000		44,218
				14,377,126	$	92,314

Stock Repurchase Program

On July 29, 2015, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. On February 8, 2018, the Board of Directors approved an increase in the stock repurchase program for up to an additional 4,522,822 shares of the Company's common stock. Coupled with the 783,757 shares remaining from the original 2,0000,000 share authorization, the increased authorization brought the total authorization to 5,306,579 shares, representing 10% of the then outstanding share count. As part of the stock repurchase program, shares may be purchased in open market transactions, block purchases, through privately negotiated transactions, or pursuant to any trading plan that may be adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Open market repurchases will be made in accordance with Exchange Act Rule 10b-18, which sets certain restrictions on the method, timing, price and volume of open market stock repurchases. The timing, manner, price and amount of any repurchases will be determined by the Company in its discretion and will be subject to economic and market conditions, stock price, applicable legal requirements and other factors. The authorization does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock and the program may be suspended or discontinued at the Company’s discretion without prior notice.

From the inception of the stock repurchase program through December 31, 2019, the Company repurchased a total of 5,665,620 shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $40.3 million, including commissions and fees, for a weighted average price of $7.11 per share. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company repurchased a total of 469,975 shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $3.0 million, including commissions and fees, for a weighted average price of $6.43 per share. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company repurchased a total of 3,979,402 shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $26.4 million, including commissions and fees, for a weighted average price of $6.64 per share. No shares were repurchased during the year ended December 31, 2017. The remaining authorization under the repurchase program as of December 31, 2019 is 857,202 shares.

Cash Dividends

The table below presents the cash dividends declared on the Company’s common stock.

(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Year		Per Share Amount		Total
2013	$	1.395	$	4,662
2014		2.160		22,643
2015		1.920		38,748
2016		1.680		41,388
2017		1.680		70,717
2018		1.070		55,814
2019		0.960		54,421
2020 - YTD⁽¹⁾		0.160		10,307
Totals	$	11.025	$	298,700

^[1],[2],[3]

[1]	As of December 31, 2019 , t he Company had entered into six e quity d istribution a greements, all six of which have either been terminated because all shares were sold or were replaced with a subsequent agreement .
[2]	Net proceeds are net of the underwriters’ discount, if applicable, and other offering costs.
[3]	Weighted average p rice received per share is before deducting the underwriters’ discount, if applicable, and other offering costs.