Earnings per Share (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Earnings per Share

Net income is divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the year to calculate basic earnings per share. The following table summarizes the dilutive effect of RSUs and options to purchase common stock:


	Year ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021
Weighted average common shares—basic	41,439,027	42,249,244	43,006,922
Dilutive effect of restricted stock units	246,321	228,771	261,858
Dilutive effect of stock options	—	—	12,296
Weighted average common shares—diluted	41,685,348	42,478,015	43,281,076

In March 2020, the Company announced its Board of Directors had authorized the Company to increase the purchase of its common stock up to $250 million in the aggregate. The initial authorization, approved in November 2015, authorized up to $50 million of purchases in the aggregate of its common stock. During 2023, 2022 and 2021, the Company purchased 680,594, 1,264,088 and 596,084 shares of its outstanding common stock for $18.8 million, $36.9 million and $19.1 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has $86.9 million remaining under the repurchase authorization.

Holders of common stock are entitled to dividends at the discretion of the Company's Board of Directors. In 2021, the Company's Board of Directors declared the first dividend since the Company's initial public offering in 2007. Since the fourth quarter of 2021, we have declared dividends of $0.04 per share of common stock in each quarter, and total dividends declared and paid on common shares during 2023, 2022 and 2021 were $6.7 million, $6.9 million and $1.7 million, respectively.