Net income per common share

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Earnings Per Share

Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share

Note 30 – Net income per common shareThe following table sets forth the computation of net income per common share (“EPS”), basic and diluted, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018:

(In thousands, except per share information)		2020		2019		2018
Net income	$	506,622	$	671,135	$	618,158
Preferred stock dividends		(1,758)		(3,723)		(3,723)
Net income applicable to common stock	$	504,864	$	667,412	$	614,435
Average common shares outstanding		85,882,371		96,848,835		101,142,258
Average potential dilutive common shares		92,888		148,965		166,385
Average common shares outstanding - assuming dilution		85,975,259		96,997,800		101,308,643
Basic EPS	$	5.88	$	6.89	$	6.07
Diluted EPS	$	5.87	$	6.88	$	6.06

As disclosed in Note 19, on May 27, 2020, the Corporation completed its $500 million accelerated share repurchase transaction (“ASR”) in 2020. Under the ASR, the Corporation received from the dealer counterparty an initial delivery of 7,055,919 shares of common stock on February 3, 2020. As part of the final settlement of the ASR, the Corporation received an additional 4,763,216 shares of common stock after the early termination date of March 19, 2020. The early termination resulted from the exercise by the dealer counterparty of its contractual right to terminate the transaction due to the trading price of the Corporation’s common stock falling below a specified level due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global markets. The Corporation accounted for the ASR as a treasury stock transaction.

Potential common shares consist of common stock issuable under the assumed exercise of stock options, restricted stock and performance shares awards using the treasury stock method. This method assumes that the potential common shares are issued and the proceeds from exercise, in addition to the amount of compensation cost attributed to future services, are used to purchase common stock at the exercise date. The difference between the number of potential shares issued and the shares purchased is added as incremental shares to the actual number of shares outstanding to compute diluted earnings per share. Warrants, stock options, restricted stock and performance shares awards, if any, that result in lower potential shares issued than shares purchased under the treasury stock method are not included in the computation of dilutive earnings per share since their inclusion would have an antidilutive effect in earnings per common share.