Net income per common share

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Note 26 – Net income per common share

The following table sets forth the computation of net income per common share (“EPS”), basic and diluted, for the quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018:

		Quarters ended March 31,
(In thousands, except per share information)		2019		2018
Net income	$	167,925	$	91,324
Preferred stock dividends		(931)		(931)
Net income applicable to common stock	$	166,994	$	90,393
Average common shares outstanding		98,581,743		101,696,343
Average potential dilutive common shares		177,155		140,869
Average common shares outstanding - assuming dilution		98,758,898		101,837,212
Basic EPS	$	1.69	$	0.89
Diluted EPS	$	1.69	$	0.89

As disclosed in Note 18, during the quarter ended March 31, 2019, the Corporation entered into a $250 million accelerated share repurchase transaction (“ASR”) and, in connection therewith, received an initial delivery of 3,500,000 shares of common stock. The initial share delivery was accounted for as a treasury stock transaction. As part of this transaction, the Corporation entered into a forward contract, which remains outstanding as of March 31, 2019, for which the Corporation expects to receive additional shares upon the termination of the ASR agreement. The diluted EPS computation for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 excludes 1,268,890 antidilutive shares related to the ASR.

For the quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, the Corporation calculated the impact of potential dilutive common shares under the treasury stock method, consistent with the method used for the preparation of the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018. For a discussion of the calculation under the treasury stock method, refer to Note 32 of the Consolidated Financial Statements included in the 2018 Form 10-K.