SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Equity [Abstract]

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

12. SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY:

Preferred Stock

The Company’s Articles of Incorporation authorize it to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences determined from time-to-time by the Company’s Board of Directors. Accordingly, the Company’s Board of Directors is empowered, without shareholder approval, to issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights superior to those of shareholders of the Company’s common stock.

In 1995, the Company issued 200,000 shares of Series A Nonconvertible Preferred Stock (Series A) to American Biomimetics Corporation (ABC) pursuant to a certain Technology Transfer Agreement between the Company and ABC. The Series A shares have a liquidation value of $7.50 per share. Series A shareholders, as a single class, have the right to elect two members of the Company’s Board of Directors. This right has never been exercised. Holders of the Series A shares are entitled to one vote per share on matters which shareholders are generally entitled to vote. The Series A shareholders are not entitled to any dividends.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had issued 200,000 shares of preferred stock, all of which were outstanding.

Common Stock

On June 21, 2018, the Company’s shareholders approved an amendment to the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of the Company’s common stock from 100,000,000 to 200,000,000. The amendment was filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State, and became effective on July 17, 2018.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had issued 48,681,524 shares of common stock, of which 47,319,887 were outstanding. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company repurchased 3,774 shares of common stock, now held as treasury stock, for an aggregate purchase price of $477,000.

Scientific Advisory Board and Employee Awards

During the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company granted a total of 2,456 and 5,590 shares, respectively, of fully vested common stock to employees and non-employee members of the Scientific Advisory Board for services performed in 2017 and 2016, respectively. The fair value of the shares issued to members of the Scientific Advisory Board was $300,000 for both years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017. No fully vested common stock was issued to employees during 2018 and the fair value of the shares issued to employees during 2017 was $165,000. In connection with the issuance of these employee grants during 2017, 605 shares, with fair value of $55,000, were withheld in satisfaction of employee tax withholding obligations.

Dividends

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company declared and paid cash dividends of $0.24 per common share, or $11.3 million, on the Company’s outstanding common stock.

On February 21, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a first quarter dividend of $0.10 per share of common stock. Payment of the dividend will be made on March 29, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2019.