Shareholders’ Equity

Shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2017 and 2016, was $401.6 million and $362.6 million, respectively. The $39.0 million increase in shareholders’ equity over December 31, 2016 was primarily attributable to net income earned of $39.8 million, and common stock issuance under employee programs of $12.2 million during 2017; offset by cash dividends declared on common shares during 2017 of $12.7 million.

At December 31, 2015, as a result of the Company’s participation in the U.S. Treasury Capital Purchase Program, there was a Warrant outstanding with the ability to purchase 1,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock, respectively, as adjusted for dividends. During 2016, the Company received Warrant exercise notices for cash exercises, resulting in the issuance of 1,000,000 shares of common stock, for an aggregate $2.7 million. At December 31, 2017, and 2016, there was no Warrant outstanding.

On May 5, 2017, the Company filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC for up to $100.0 million of common stock, preferred stock, warrants, or debt securities, to be issued from time to time for general corporate purposes which may include funding bank and non-bank subsidiaries, financing business expansion, or refinancing or extending the maturity of debt obligations and investments at the holding company level. The amount was available to be issued as of June 15, 2017, which was the date that the SEC issued a Notice of Effectiveness. As of December 31, 2017, the Company has not issued any securities under the shelf registration statement.

Earnings per common share (“EPS”) were calculated as follows:



	For the Years Ended December 31,
(in thousands, except per share data)	2017		2016		2015
Net income	$	39,796	$	38,766	$	39,135

Weighted average common shares outstanding – basic⁽¹⁾	26,602		25,497		22,137
Effect of dilutive stock options and warrants⁽²⁾	120		317		1,726
Weighted average common shares outstanding – diluted	26,722		25,814		23,863

EPS:
Basic	$	1.50	$	1.52	$	1.77
Diluted	$	1.49	$	1.50	$	1.64

⁽¹⁾ Includes participating securities related to unvested restricted stock awards, net of forfeitures during the period

⁽²⁾ Effect of dilutive stock options and warrants includes the dilutive effect of additional potential common shares issuable under contracts

As of December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, there were 542,500, 456,666, and 170,000, common stock options which were not included in the potentially dilutive stock options and warrants, respectively. These shares were not included in the computation of diluted EPS because they were anti-dilutive in the period (i.e., the options’ exercise price was greater than the average market price of the common shares for the given period).