Stockholders’ Equity

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



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Restricted stock units	$	53,766	$	84,082	$	42,122
Employee stock purchase plan	7,580		6,891		6,334
Other ⁽¹⁾	—		7,538		88
Total	$	61,346	$	98,511	$	48,544


⁽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.

Following is a reconciliation of the shares available to be issued under the 2011 Plan as of August 31, 2019:



	Shares Available for Grant
Balance as of August 31, 2018	12,837,158
Restricted stock units granted, net of forfeitures⁽¹⁾	(796,577	)
Balance as of August 31, 2019	12,040,581


⁽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, 2018 through August 31, 2019:



	SARS Outstanding		Average Intrinsic Value (in thousands)		Weighted- Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Life (years)
Outstanding as of August 31, 2018	156,801		$	1,748	$	18.41	3.10
SARS exercised	(33,300	)			$	18.24
Outstanding and exercisable as of August 31, 2019	123,501		$	1,278	$	18.46	2.11

Restricted Stock Units

Certain key employees have been granted time-based, performance-based and market-based restricted stock units. 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 units 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 units activity from August 31, 2018 through August 31, 2019:



	Shares		Weighted- Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Outstanding as of August 31, 2018	8,352,307		$	24.34
Changes during the period
Shares granted⁽¹⁾	3,144,205		$	25.25
Shares vested	(1,983,411	)	$	25.07
Shares forfeited	(2,347,628	)	$	24.78
Outstanding as of August 31, 2019	7,165,473		$	26.27

⁽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, 2019, the Company awarded approximately 1.6 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 units and SARS stock-based compensation information for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Intrinsic value of SARS exercised	$	335	$	909	$	5,053
Fair value of restricted stock units vested	$	49,725	$	62,592	$	44,010
Tax benefit for stock compensation expense⁽¹⁾	$	611	$	1,122	$	560
Unrecognized stock-based compensation expense — restricted stock units	$	41,778
Remaining weighted-average period for restricted stock units expense	1.3 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, 2019, 3,397,019 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,
	2019		2018		2017
Expected dividend yield	0.6	%	0.6	%	0.8	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.3	%	1.4	%	0.5	%
Expected volatility ⁽¹⁾	28.6	%	23.0	%	33.0	%
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 2019 and 2018:



	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 2019:	October 18, 2018	$	0.08	$	13,226	November 15, 2018	December 3, 2018
	January 24, 2019	$	0.08	$	12,706	February 15, 2019	March 1, 2019
	April 18, 2019	$	0.08	$	12,681	May 15, 2019	June 3, 2019
	July 18, 2019	$	0.08	$	12,724	August 15, 2019	September 3, 2019
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

Share Repurchases

In September 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors (“the Board”) authorized the repurchase of up to $600.0 million of the Company’s common stock as part of a two-year capital allocation framework (“the 2020 Share Repurchase Program”). From September 24, 2019 through October 14, 2019, the Company repurchased 874,475 shares, utilizing a total of $30.8 million of the $600.0 million authorized by the Board.

Common Stock Outstanding

The following represents the common stock outstanding for the fiscal year ended:



	Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Common stock outstanding:
Beginning balances	164,588,172		177,727,653		186,998,472
Shares issued upon exercise of stock options	11,348		30,832		172,620
Shares issued under employee stock purchase plan	1,282,042		1,105,400		1,228,316
Vesting of restricted stock	1,983,261		2,727,229		2,102,049
Purchases of treasury stock under employee stock plans	(489,836	)	(793,052	)	(550,096	)
Treasury shares purchased⁽¹⁾	(13,854,607	)	(16,209,890	)	(12,223,708	)
Ending balances	153,520,380		164,588,172		177,727,653


⁽¹⁾	During fiscal years 2018, 2017 and 2016, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of $350.0 million, $450.0 million and $400.0 million, respectively, of the Company’s common stock under share repurchase programs, which were repurchased during fiscal years 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.