Earnings Per Share:

Basic and diluted earnings per share for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 are calculated as follows (in thousands, except per share amounts):



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Basic earnings per share
Numerator:
Net income attributable to Albemarle Corporation	$	129,745	$	118,670	$	563,966	$	273,216
Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares for basic earnings per share	107,315		110,476		109,223		111,049
Basic earnings per share	$	1.21	$	1.07	$	5.16	$	2.46

Diluted earnings per share
Numerator:
Net income attributable to Albemarle Corporation	$	129,745	$	118,670	$	563,966	$	273,216
Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares for basic earnings per share	107,315		110,476		109,223		111,049
Incremental shares under stock compensation plans	987		1,499		1,053		1,407
Weighted-average common shares for diluted earnings per share	108,302		111,975		110,276		112,456
Diluted earnings per share	$	1.20	$	1.06	$	5.11	$	2.43

On February 23, 2018, the Company increased the regular quarterly dividend by 5% to $0.335 per share. On July 26, 2018, the Company declared a cash dividend of $0.335 per share, which was paid on October 1, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business as of September 14, 2018. On October 30, 2018, the Company declared a cash dividend of $0.335 per share, which is payable on January 2, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business as of December 14, 2018.

Under our existing Board authorized share repurchase program, during 2018, the Company entered into two separate accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) agreements with financial institutions. Under each ASR agreement, the Company paid $250 million from available cash on hand. Under the terms of the first ASR agreement, which was completed on September 28, 2018, the Company received and retired a total of 2,680,704 shares, calculated based on the daily Rule 10b-18 volume-weighted average prices of the Company’s common stock over the term of the ASR agreement, less an agreed discount. Under the terms of the second ASR agreement, the Company received and retired an initial delivery of 1,984,914 shares of our common stock with a fair market value of $200 million. The Company determined that the ASR agreement met the criteria to be accounted for as a forward contract indexed to its stock and was therefore treated as an equity instrument. The total number of shares to ultimately be delivered under this ASR agreement will be determined upon completion of the second ASR agreement, which is expected to be by the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, and will generally be based on the daily Rule 10b-18 volume-weighted average prices of the Company’s common stock over the term of the second ASR agreement, less an agreed discount. Although the second ASR agreement can be settled, at the Company’s option, in cash or in shares of common stock, the Company intends to settle in shares of common stock. In total, through September 30, 2018, we received and retired 4,665,618 shares under these agreements, which reduced the Company’s weighted average shares outstanding for purposes of calculating basic and diluted earnings per share for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018.

No more than 15,000,000 shares can be repurchased under the Company’s authorized share repurchase program. As of September 30, 2018, there were 7,993,299 remaining shares available for repurchase under the Company’s authorized share repurchase program due to shares previously repurchased under this program to date.