19. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

As of December 31, 2015, 90,320,374 shares of common stock were issued on the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, which excludes 4,228,032 unvested shares of common stock held by certain participants in the Company’s equity compensation plan (see Note 18–Equity-Based Compensation) and includes 6,519,773 shares of treasury stock held by the Company (see Secondary Offerings and Concurrent Share Repurchases and Share Repurchase Program discussions below).

Dividends

The Board has adopted a policy to pay, subject to legally available funds, regular quarterly dividends. The payment and timing of cash dividends is within the discretion of the Board and depends on many factors, including, but not limited to, the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, level of indebtedness, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, restrictions in its debt agreements and in any preferred stock, business prospects and other factors that the Board may deem relevant.

During the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Board declared or paid quarterly cash dividends to all common stockholders of record as follows:

Record Date	Payment Date	Cash Dividend per Common Share
2015:
January 13, 2015	January 22, 2015	$	0.21
March 13, 2015^(a)	April 1, 2015	$	0.21
June 22, 2015^(a)	July 1, 2015	$	0.21
September 29, 2015	October 6, 2015	$	0.21
2014:
March 20, 2014^(a)	April 1, 2014	$	0.20
June 20, 2014^(a)	July 1, 2014	$	0.21
September 29, 2014	October 6, 2014	$	0.21
2013:
June 20, 2013^(a)	July 1, 2013	$	0.20
September 20, 2013	October 1, 2013	$	0.20
December 20, 2013	January 3, 2014	$	0.20

^(a)As the Company had an accumulated deficit at the time these dividends were declared, these dividends were accounted for as a return of capital and recorded as a reduction to additional paid-in capital on the accompanying consolidated statements of changes in stockholders’ equity.

On January 5, 2016, the Board declared a cash dividend of $0.21 per share to all common stockholders of record at the close of business on January 15, 2016, which was paid on January 22, 2016. On February 22, 2016, the Board declared a cash dividend of $0.21 per share to all common stockholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2016, which will be paid on April 1, 2016.

As of December 31 2015, the Company had $430 of cash dividends recorded as dividends payable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, which relates to unvested time restricted shares and unvested performance restricted shares with a performance condition considered probable of being achieved. These shares carry dividend rights and therefore the dividends will be paid as the shares vest in accordance with the underlying stock compensation grants. These dividend rights will be forfeited if the shares do not vest.

Dividends paid to common stockholders were $72,318, $72,113 and $36,175 in the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. For tax purposes, a portion of the 2015 and 2014 dividends were treated as a return of capital to stockholders. Distributions that qualify as a return of capital are not considered “dividends” for tax purposes only.

Dividends on all performance-vesting restricted share awards accumulate and are paid only if the performance conditions are met and the respective shares vest in accordance with their terms. Excluding the impact of the January and February 2016 dividend declarations, dividends on the 2.25x and 2.75x Performance Restricted shares were approximately $2,820 for each tranche as of December 31, 2015, and will accumulate and be paid only if and to the extent these 2.25x and 2.75x Performance Restricted shares vest in accordance with their terms. The Company does not record a dividend payable when the performance conditions on the related unvested shares are not considered probable of being achieved. Due to the dividend declaration on February 22, 2016, the 2.25x Performance Restricted shares will vest on April 1, 2016. The Company expects to record approximately $3,400 of accumulated dividends related to these 2.25x Performance Restricted shares during the first quarter of 2016. See Note 18–Equity-Based Compensation for further details.

Stock Split

On April 7, 2013, the Board authorized an eight-for-one split of the Company’s common stock, which was effective on April 8, 2013. The Company retained the current par value of $0.01 per share for all shares of common stock after the stock split, and accordingly, stockholders’ equity on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and the consolidated statements of changes in stockholders’ equity reflects the stock split. The Company’s historical share and per share information has been retroactively adjusted to give effect to this stock split.

Contemporaneously with the stock split, the Board approved an increase in the number of authorized shares of common stock to 1 billion shares. Additionally, in connection with the consummation of the initial public offering, the Board authorized 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock at a par value of $0.01 per share.

Initial Public Offering and Use of Proceeds

On April 24, 2013, the Company completed an initial public offering of its common stock in which it offered and sold 10,000,000 shares of common stock and the selling stockholders offered and sold 19,900,000 shares of common stock including 3,900,000 shares of common stock pursuant to the exercise in full of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SEAS”.

The Company’s shares of common stock were sold at an initial public offering price of $27.00 per share, which generated net proceeds of approximately $245,400 to the Company after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, expenses and transaction costs. The Company did not receive any proceeds from shares sold by the selling stockholders. The Company used a portion of the net proceeds received in the offering to redeem (1) $140,000 in aggregate principal amount of its Senior Notes at a redemption price of 111.0% plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon and (2) to repay $37,000 of the outstanding indebtedness under the then existing Term B Loan. In addition, the Company used approximately $46,300 of the net proceeds received from the offering to make a one-time payment to an affiliate of Blackstone in connection with the termination of the 2009 Advisory Agreement (see Note 16–Related-Party Transactions).

Secondary Offerings and Concurrent Share Repurchases

On December 17, 2013, the selling stockholders completed an underwritten secondary offering of 18,000,000 shares of common stock. The selling stockholders received all of the net proceeds from the offering and no shares were sold by the Company. The Company incurred fees and expenses of $1,407 in connection with this secondary offering which is shown as secondary offering expenses on the consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the year ended December 31, 2013.

On April 9, 2014, the selling stockholders completed an underwritten secondary offering of 17,250,000 shares of common stock, including 2,250,000 shares pursuant to the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. The selling stockholders received all of the net proceeds from the offering and no shares were sold by the Company. In the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company incurred fees and expenses of $747 in connection with this secondary offering which is shown as secondary offering expenses on the accompanying consolidated statement of comprehensive income.

Concurrently with the closing of the secondary offerings in December 2013 and April 2014, the Company repurchased 1,500,000 and 1,750,000 shares, respectively, of its common stock directly from the selling stockholders in private, non-underwritten transactions at a price per share equal to the price per share paid to the selling stockholders by the underwriters in the respective secondary offerings.

Share Repurchase Program

On August 12, 2014, the Board authorized the repurchase of up to $250,000 of the Company’s common stock (the “Share Repurchase Program”). Under the Share Repurchase Program, the Company is authorized to repurchase shares through open market purchases, privately-negotiated transactions or otherwise in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, including through Rule 10b5-1 trading plans and under Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act. The Share Repurchase Program has no time limit and may be suspended or discontinued completely at any time. The number of shares to be purchased and the timing of purchases will be based on the level of the Company’s cash balances, general business and market conditions, and other factors, including legal requirements, debt covenant restrictions and alternative investment opportunities.

Pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program, during the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company repurchased a total of 855,970 shares of common stock at an average price of $17.50 per share and a total cost of approximately $15,000. The Company paid $5,650 in January 2015 for settlement of shares repurchased in December 2014.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company repurchased a total of 2,413,803 shares of common stock at an average price of $18.62 per share and a total cost of approximately $45,000 leaving $190,000 available for future repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program as of December 31, 2015.

All of the repurchased shares from the Share Repurchase Program and the shares repurchased directly from the selling stockholders during the December 2013 and April 2014 secondary offerings were recorded as treasury stock at a total cost of $154,871 and $109,871 as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and are reflected as a reduction to stockholders’ equity on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.