COMMON STOCK REPURCHASES AND CASH DIVIDENDS:

Common Stock Repurchases

As of December 31, 2017, the Company had approximately $44.4 million remaining under its stock-repurchase program. In January 2018, the Company’s board of directors authorized the use of an additional $30.0 million for the repurchase of the Company’s common stock, with repurchases to be executed according to pre-defined price/volume guidelines. In the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company repurchased approximately 0.5 million shares of its common stock for approximately $33.3 million. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had approximately $41.1 million remaining under its current repurchase program, which has no expiration date. Authorization of future repurchase programs is at the discretion of the board of directors and will depend on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business conditions and other factors.

Cash Dividends

In January 2018, the Company’s board of directors declared four quarterly cash dividends in the amount of $0.16 per share to be paid to stockholders of record at the end of each quarter in 2018. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, and March 31, 2017, cash dividends declared and paid were as follows:



	Three Months Ended
(In thousands, except per share amounts)	March 31, 2018		March 31, 2017
Dividends declared and paid	$	4,775	$	4,137
Dividends declared per common share	$	0.16	$	0.14