Earnings Per Common Share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

The two-class method is used in the calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share. Under the two-class method, earnings available to common shareholders for the period are allocated between common shareholders and participating securities according to dividends declared (or accumulated) and participating rights in undistributed earnings.

Average shares of common stock for diluted net income per common share include shares to be issued upon the exercise of stock options, restricted stock units that may be converted to stock, restricted stock awards and stock to be issued under the deferred stock compensation plan for non-employee directors.

The factors used in the earnings per share computation follow:



	For the years ended December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2016			2015		2014
Net income	$	108,032		$	86,830	$	62,121
Net income allocated to participating securities	166			—		—
Net income allocated to common shareholders⁽¹⁾	$	107,866		$	86,830	$	62,121
Weighted average common shares - issued	49,091			36,081		31,367
Average unvested restricted share awards	(139		)	—		—
Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic	48,952			36,081		31,367
Effect of dilutive securities
Weighted average common stock equivalents	651			272		221
Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted	49,603			36,353		31,588
EPS available to common shareholders
Basic earnings per common share	$	2.21		$	2.41	$	1.98
Diluted earnings per common share	$	2.17		$	2.39	$	1.97


(1)	Net income allocated to common shareholders for basic and diluted earnings per share may differ under the two-class method as a result of adding common share equivalents for options and warrants to dilutive shares outstanding, which alters the ratio used to allocate net income to common shareholders and participating securities for the purposes of calculating diluted earnings per share.

For the effect of dilutive securities, the assumed average stock valuation is $40.58 per share, $32.17 per share and $29.11 per share for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The average number of exercisable employee stock option awards outstanding that were "out-of-the-money," whereby the option exercise price per share exceeded the market price per share and, therefore, were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per common share because they would have been anti-dilutive, totaled 0 for the year ended December 31, 2016, 54,771 for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 240,165 for the year ended December 31, 2014.