Our common stock is 100% owned by active and retired employees, and there is no public trading market for our common stock. Since 1928, substantially all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock have been held of record by voting trustees under successive voting trust agreements. Under applicable New York law, a voting trust may not have a term greater than ten years. A new Voting Trust Agreement was established effective March 3, 2017, which expires by its terms on March 1, 2027. At December 31, 2019, approximately 83% of our outstanding common stock was held in the voting trust. The participation of shareholders in the voting trust is voluntary at the time the voting trust is created, but is irrevocable during its term. Shareholders who elect not to participate in the voting trust hold their common stock as shareholders of record. Shareholders may elect to participate in the voting trust at any time during the term of the voting trust.

No holder of our common stock or voting trust interests representing our common stock ("common stock", "common shares", or "shares") may sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any shares without first offering us the option to purchase those shares at the price at which they were issued. We also have the option to purchase at the issue price the common shares of any shareholder who ceases to be an employee for any reason other than death or "retirement" (as defined in our amended restated certificate of incorporation), and on the first anniversary of any holder's death. In the past, we have always exercised these purchase options and we expect to continue to do so in the foreseeable future. However, we can make no assurance that we will continue to exercise our purchase option in the future. All outstanding shares have been issued at $20.00 per share.

During 2019, eligible employees and qualified retirees subscribed for 997,275 shares totaling $19.9 million. Subscribers elected to make payments under one of the following options: (i) all shares subscribed for on or before January 3, 2020; or (ii) all shares subscribed for in installments paid through payroll deductions (or in certain cases where a subscriber is no longer on our payroll, through direct monthly payments) over an eleven-month period.

Common shares were delivered to subscribers as of January 3, 2020, in the case of shares paid for prior to January 3, 2020. Shares will be issued and delivered to subscribers on a quarterly basis, as of the tenth day of March, June, September, and December, to the extent full payments for shares are made in the case of subscriptions under the installment method.

Shown below is a summary of shares purchased and retired by the Company during the three years ended December 31:


	Shares of Common Stock
	Purchased	Retired
2019	962,023	957,495
2018	786,754	752,825
2017	684,347	678,958

We also have authorized 10,000,000 shares of Delegated Authority Preferred Stock (“preferred stock”), par value one cent ($0.01). The preferred stock may be issued in one or more series, with the designations, relative rights, preferences, and limitations of shares of each such series being fixed by a resolution of our Board of Directors. There were no shares of preferred stock outstanding at December 31, 2019 and 2018.

On December 12, 2019, our Board of Directors declared a 5% common stock dividend. Each shareholder was entitled to one share of common stock for every twenty shares held as of December 16, 2019. The stock was issued on February 7, 2020. On December 13, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a 10% common stock dividend. Each shareholder was entitled to one share of common stock for every ten shares held as of December 17, 2018. The stock was issued on February 1, 2019. On December 13, 2017, our Board of Directors, declared a 10% common stock dividend. Each shareholder was entitled to one share of common stock for every ten shares held as of December 18, 2017. The stock was issued on February 2, 2018.