Shareholders' equity

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

5. Shareholders’ equity

Changes in shareholders’ equity for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 were as follows (in thousands):

Balance at December 31, 2017	$	26,014
Net income		4,464
Share-based compensation expense		524
Issuance of shares from exercise of stock options		229
Relinquishment of stock awards upon exercise and fully vested deferred stock units		(265	)
Purchase of common stock for treasury		(2,001	)
Dividends declared and paid on common stock		(2,000	)
Balance at September 30, 2018	$	26,965

For the three months ended September 30, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per share, totaling $665 thousand, which was paid on September 14, 2018 to common shareholders of record at the close of business on August 20, 2018. For the three months ended September 30, 2017, dividends declared and paid totaled $661 thousand, or $0.09 per share. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, dividends declared and paid totaled $2.0 million, or $0.27 per share, and $1.9 million, or $0.26 per share, respectively.