Shareholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

The Company's articles of incorporation authorize the issuance of up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share, of which the Company's Board of Directors has designated 8,000,000 shares of 8.50% Series A Preferred Stock and 7,000,000 shares of 7.625% Series B Preferred Stock, (the Series A Preferred Stock and the Series B Preferred Stock collectively, the "Preferred Stock"). The Company had 2,300,000 shares of its Series A Preferred Stock and 2,271,937 shares of its Series B Preferred Stock issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2016 compared to 2,300,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock and 2,250,000 shares of Series B Preferred Stock as of December 31, 2015. The Company's Preferred Stock has no maturity and will remain outstanding indefinitely unless redeemed or otherwise repurchased or converted into common stock pursuant to the terms of the Preferred Stock. Except under certain limited circumstances intended to preserve the Company's REIT status, upon the occurrence of a change in control as defined in Article IIIA, Section 7(d) of the Company’s Articles of Incorporation, or to avoid the direct or indirect imposition of a penalty tax in respect of, or to protect the tax status of, any of the Company’s real estate mortgage investment conduits (“REMIC”) interests or a REMIC in which the Company may acquire an interest (as permitted by the Company’s Articles of Incorporation), the Company may not redeem the Series A Preferred Stock prior to July 31, 2017 or the Series B Preferred Stock prior to April 30, 2018. On or after these dates, at any time and from time to time, the Preferred Stock may be redeemed in whole, or in part, at the Company's option at a cash redemption price of $25.00 per share plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends. Because the Preferred Stock is redeemable only at the option of the issuer, it is classified as equity on the Company's consolidated balance sheet. The Series A Preferred Stock pays a cumulative cash dividend equivalent to 8.50% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per share each year and the Series B Preferred Stock pays a cumulative cash dividend equivalent to 7.625% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per share each year. The Company announced that it will pay its regular quarterly dividends on its Preferred Stock for the fourth quarter on January 16, 2017 to shareholders of record as of January 1, 2017.

Shareholders' Equity

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY AND SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

Preferred Stock

Common Stock

The Company declared a fourth quarter common stock dividend of $0.21 per share payable on January 31, 2017 to shareholders of record as of December 30, 2016.

In December 2016, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $40,000 of its outstanding shares of common stock through December 31, 2018. This stock repurchase plan replaced the Company's prior repurchase plan which was authorized through December 31, 2016. The Company did not repurchase any shares under with plan during the three months ended December 31, 2016.

2009 Stock and Incentive Plan. Of the 2,500,000 shares of common stock authorized for issuance under its 2009 Stock and Incentive Plan, the Company had 860,106 available for issuance as of December 31, 2016. Total stock-based compensation expense recognized by the Company for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $2,709 compared to $2,965 and $2,719 for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively.

The following table presents a rollforward of the restricted stock activity for the periods indicated:



	Year Ended
	December 31,
	2016				2015				2014
	Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share		Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share		Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share
Restricted stock outstanding as of beginning of period	696,597		$	8.54	731,809		$	8.89	520,987		$	10.26
Restricted stock granted	214,878		6.28		263,829		8.21		457,538		8.09
Restricted stock vested	(358,079	)	8.71		(299,041	)	9.12		(246,716	)	10.29
Restricted stock outstanding as of end of period	553,396		$	7.55	696,597		$	8.54	731,809		$	8.89

As of December 31, 2016, the grant date fair value of the Company’s remaining nonvested restricted stock is $2,137 which will be amortized into compensation expense over a weighted average period of 1.4 years.