COMMON EQUITY

Stock-Based Compensation

During the first quarter of 2018, the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors awarded the following stock-based compensation awards to our directors, officers, and certain other key employees:



Award Type		Number of Awards
Stock options ⁽¹⁾		710,710
Restricted shares⁽²⁾		156,340
Performance units		217,560


⁽¹⁾	Stock options awarded had a weighted-average exercise price of $65.60 and a weighted-average grant date fair value of $7.71 per option.


⁽²⁾	Restricted shares awarded had a weighted-average grant date fair value of $64.20 per share.

Restrictions

Our ability as a holding company to pay common stock dividends primarily depends on the availability of funds received from our utility subsidiaries and our non-utility subsidiary, We Power. Various financing arrangements and regulatory requirements impose certain restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer funds to us in the form of cash dividends, loans, or advances. All of our utility subsidiaries, with the exception of UMERC and MGU, are prohibited from loaning funds to us, either directly or indirectly.

See Note 9, Common Equity, in our 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on these and other restrictions.

We do not believe that these restrictions will materially affect our operations or limit any dividend payments in the foreseeable future.

Common Stock Dividends

On April 19, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.5525 per share, payable on June 1, 2018, to shareholders of record on May 14, 2018.