Note 5 - Earnings Per Common Share

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Earnings Per Share [Text Block]

Note 5.    Earnings Per Common Share

We are authorized to issue 500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.25 par value per share. At March 31, 2015, there were 372,426,357 shares of our common stock issued and 2,433,518 shares issued and held in treasury, for a net of 369,992,839 shares outstanding.

The following table reconciles weighted average common shares used in the computations of basic and diluted earnings per share for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 (thousands, except per-share amounts):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
Numerator
Net income	$	12,552		$	11,641
Preferred stock dividends		(138	)		(138	)
Net income applicable to common shares for basic and diluted earnings per share	$	12,414		$	11,503
Denominator
Basic weighted average common shares		368,789			342,666
Dilutive stock options and restricted stock		902			7,352
Diluted weighted average common shares		369,691			350,018
Basic earnings per common share
Net income applicable to common shares	$	0.03		$	0.03
Diluted earnings per common share
Net income applicable to common shares	$	0.03		$	0.03

Diluted income per share for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 excludes the potential effects of outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock, as their conversion and exercise would have no effect on the calculation of dilutive shares.

Options to purchase 244,342 shares of our common stock were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015.  For the three-month period ended March 31, 2014, options to purchase 612,745 shares of our common stock were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share.  In each case, the exercise price of the options not included in the computations of diluted earnings per share exceeded the average price of our stock during those periods and therefore would not affect the calculation of earnings per share.