Note 6 - Equity Transactions

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Notes to Financial Statements

Equity [Text Block]

(6) EQUITY TRANSACTIONS:

On March 3, 2023, following the approval of the Company’s stockholders at a special meeting, the Company’s Articles of Incorporation were amended to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 20,000,000 to 50,000,000.

The Company accrues stock compensation expense over the period earned for employees and board members. Stock compensation expense for board members is included in “Board of Directors fees and costs” on our condensed consolidated statement of operations, and stock compensation expense for officers and employees that are not board members is included in “Personnel” on our condensed consolidated statement of operations. In the three ended March 31, 2023, the Company recognized compensation expense of $30,750 to board members. As of March 31, 2023, accrued compensation to board members totaled $61,500. In the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company issued 11,327 shares to board members with a value of $41,004, at the time of issuance, with respect to which compensation expense in that period had been accrued as of December 31, 2021. The Company did not issue shares to employees in the three month periods ended March 31, 2023 and 2022.

On January 3, 2023, the Company sold to an institutional investor in a registered direct offering 930,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price per share of $1.61, and prefunded warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,678,696 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $1.61 per pre-funded warrant. The pre-funded warrants have an exercise price of $0.0001 per share and remain exercisable until exercised in full. In a concurrent private placement, the Company also issued to the investor Series A-1 warrants to purchase up to 2,608,696 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $1.36 per share, exercisable for a period of five years from the date of issuance, and Series A-2 warrants to purchase up to 2,608,696 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $1.36 per share, exercisable for a period of three years from the date of issuance. The net proceeds from the registered direct offering were approximately $3.7 million after deducting fees due to the placement agent in the offering. A holder of pre-funded warrants may not exercise the warrant if the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own more than 9.99% of the number of shares of common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise. A holder of pre-funded warrants may increase or decrease this percentage, but not in excess of 9.99%, by providing at least 61 days’ prior notice to the Company. A holder of the Series A-1 and Series A-2 warrants may not exercise the warrant if the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own more than 4.99% of the number of shares of common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise, and may increase or decrease this percentage, but not in excess of 9.99%, by providing at least 61 days’ prior notice to the Company.

The Company classified the fair value of the warrants as equity because they are indexed to its own stock and meet the conditions necessary for equity classification in accordance with the guidance in ASC Subtopic 815-40 on derivatives and hedging.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC acted as placement agent to the Company in connection with the registered direct offering and concurrent private placement and was paid a cash fee equal to 7.5% of the gross proceeds of the offering, a management fee equal to 1.0% of the gross proceeds of the offering, and was reimbursed by the Company for its non-accountable expenses in the amount of $35,000, for fees and expenses of its legal counsel, for other out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of $50,000, and for its clearing expenses in the amount of $15,950. The Company also issued to designees of the placement agent five-year warrants to purchase an aggregate of 156,522 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $2.0125 per share.

On January 25, 2023, the investor exercised a portion of its pre-funded warrants and acquired 400,696 shares of common stock for an aggregate exercise price of $40, and on February 27, 2023, the investor exercised an additional portion of its pre-funded warrants and acquired 741,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate exercise price of $74.

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had warrants outstanding, excluding prefunded warrants, to purchase 7,419,760 shares of common stock at exercise prices ranging from $1.36 to $65.00 per share that expire at various dates through 2027. In addition, there are currently outstanding seven-year warrants to purchase (i) 4,800 Units sold in our May 2016 private placement at an exercise price of $25.00 per Unit, (ii) 1,641 Units sold in our February 2017 private placement at an exercise price of $35.00 per Unit, and (iii) 2,400 Units sold in our October 2017 private placement at an exercise price of $25.00 per Unit.  The exercise in full of these warrants to purchase units (including exercise of the warrants underlying these warrants) would result in the issuance of 17,681 additional shares of our common stock at an aggregate exercise price of $474,852.