Stockholders’ Equity

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense within selling, general and administrative expense as follows (in thousands):



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Restricted stock and stock appreciation rights (“SARS”)	$	84,082	$	42,122	$	52,459
Employee stock purchase plan	6,891		6,334		6,538
Other ⁽¹⁾	7,538		88		—
Total	$	98,511	$	48,544	$	58,997

⁽¹⁾For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2018, represents a one-time cash-settled stock award that vested on November 30, 2017.

Equity Compensation Plan

The 2011 Stock Award and Incentive Plan (the “2011 Plan”) provides for the grant of restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards and other stock-based awards. The maximum aggregate number of shares that may be subject to awards under the 2011 Plan is 23,300,000.

Upon adoption of the 2011 Plan, the 2002 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2002 Plan”) was terminated. For any outstanding awards granted under the 2002 Plan that expire, are canceled or forfeited after the termination of the 2002 Plan, the shares are available for issuance under the 2011 Plan.

Following is a reconciliation of the shares available to be issued under the 2011 Plan as of August 31, 2018:



	Shares Available for Grant
Balance as of August 31, 2017	12,228,936
SARS canceled	35,439
Restricted stock awards forfeited, net of grants⁽¹⁾	572,783
Balance as of August 31, 2018	12,837,158

⁽¹⁾Represents the maximum number of shares that can be issued based on the achievement of certain performance criteria.

Stock Appreciation Rights (“SARS”)

The following table summarizes SARS activity from August 31, 2017 through August 31, 2018:



	SARS Outstanding		Average Intrinsic Value (in thousands)		Weighted- Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Life (years)
Outstanding as of August 31, 2017	319,241		$	3,651	$	19.91	2.10
SARS canceled	(35,439	)			$	21.56
SARS exercised	(127,001	)			$	21.31
Outstanding and exercisable as of August 31, 2018	156,801		$	1,748	$	18.41	3.10

Restricted Stock Awards

Certain key employees have been granted time-based, performance-based and market-based restricted stock unit awards. The time-based restricted stock units granted generally vest on a graded vesting schedule over three years. The performance-based restricted stock units generally vest on a cliff vesting schedule over three years and up to a maximum of 150%, depending on the specified performance condition and the level of achievement obtained. The performance-based restricted stock units have a vesting condition that is based upon the Company's cumulative adjusted core earnings per share during the performance period. The market-based restricted stock units generally vest on a cliff vesting schedule over three years and up to a maximum of 200%, depending on the specified performance condition and the level of achievement obtained. The market-based restricted stock units have a vesting condition that is tied to the Company’s total shareholder return based on the Company's stock performance in relation to the companies in the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Super Composite Technology Hardware and Equipment Index excluding the Company.

On October 6, 2017, the Company's Compensation Committee approved the modification of vesting criteria for certain performance-based restricted stock awards granted in fiscal year 2015. As a result of the modification, 0.8 million awards vested during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, which resulted in approximately $24.9 million of stock-based compensation expense recognized.

The following table summarizes restricted stock activity from August 31, 2017 through August 31, 2018:



	Shares		Weighted- Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Outstanding as of August 31, 2017	11,652,319		$	22.00
Changes during the period
Shares granted⁽¹⁾	2,751,300		$	29.40
Shares vested	(2,727,229	)	$	22.95
Shares forfeited	(3,324,083	)	$	19.20
Outstanding as of August 31, 2018	8,352,307		$	24.34

⁽¹⁾

For those shares granted that are based on the achievement of certain performance criteria, the amount represents the maximum number of shares that can vest. During the fiscal year ended August 31, 2018, the Company awarded approximately 1.4 million time-based restricted stock units, 0.4 million performance-based restricted stock units and 0.4 million market-based restricted stock units based on target performance criteria.

The following table represents the restricted stock and SARS stock-based compensation information for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Intrinsic value of SARS exercised	$	909	$	5,053	$	506
Fair value of restricted stock vested	$	62,592	$	44,010	$	34,857
Tax benefit (expense) for stock compensation expense⁽¹⁾	$	1,122	$	560	$	991
Unrecognized stock-based compensation expense — restricted stock	$	41,940
Remaining weighted-average period for restricted stock expense	1.4 years


⁽¹⁾	Classified as income tax expense within the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

The maximum aggregate number of shares that are available for issuance under the 2011 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”) is 12,000,000.

Employees are eligible to participate in the ESPP after 90 days of employment with the Company. The ESPP permits eligible employees to purchase common stock through payroll deductions, which may not exceed 10% of an employee’s compensation, as defined in the ESPP, at a price equal to 85% of the fair value of the common stock at the beginning or end of the offering period, whichever is lower. The ESPP is intended to qualify under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. As of August 31, 2018, 4,679,061 shares remained available for issue under the 2011 ESPP.

The fair value of shares issued under the ESPP was estimated on the commencement date of each offering period using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The following weighted-average assumptions were used in the model for each respective period:



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2018		2017		2016
Expected dividend yield	0.6	%	0.8	%	0.7	%
Risk-free interest rate	1.4	%	0.5	%	0.3	%
Expected volatility ⁽¹⁾	23.0	%	33.0	%	28.1	%
Expected life	0.5 years		0.5 years		0.5 years


⁽¹⁾	The expected volatility was estimated using the historical volatility derived from the Company’s common stock.

Dividends

The following table sets forth certain information relating to the Company’s cash dividends declared to common stockholders during fiscal years 2018 and 2017:



	Dividend Declaration Date	Dividend per Share		Total of Cash Dividends Declared		Date of Record for Dividend Payment	Dividend Cash Payment Date
	(in thousands, except for per share data)
Fiscal Year 2018:	October 19, 2017	$	0.08	$	14,588	November 15, 2017	December 1, 2017
	January 25, 2018	$	0.08	$	14,272	February 15, 2018	March 1, 2018
	April 19, 2018	$	0.08	$	13,991	May 15, 2018	June 1, 2018
	July 18, 2018	$	0.08	$	13,677	August 15, 2018	September 4, 2018
Fiscal Year 2017:	October 20, 2016	$	0.08	$	15,248	November 15, 2016	December 1, 2016
	January 26, 2017	$	0.08	$	15,051	February 15, 2017	March 1, 2017
	April 20, 2017	$	0.08	$	14,840	May 15, 2017	June 1, 2017
	July 20, 2017	$	0.08	$	14,698	August 15, 2017	September 1, 2017

Share Repurchases

During fiscal years 2017 and 2016, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of $450.0 million and $400.0 million, respectively, of the Company's common stock under share repurchase programs, which were repurchased during fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018.

In June 2018, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $350.0 million of the Company's common stock (the "2018 Share Repurchase Program"). The 2018 Share Repurchase Program expires on August 31, 2019. As of August 31, 2018, no shares had yet been repurchased under this authorization and $350.0 million remains available under the 2018 Share Repurchase Program.