NOTE 7 – PREFERRED STOCK

At December 31, 2016, we had 1,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock and 726,500 shares issued and outstanding of mandatory convertible preferred stock. At December 31 2015, we had 1,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock and 770,000 shares issued and outstanding.

Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock Offering: On September 15, 2015, we completed a registered public offering of 7,700,000 depositary shares, each representing a 1/10th interest in a share of our 5.25% Series A mandatory convertible preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Series A Preferred Stock"), at a public offering price of $100.00 per depository share for total gross proceeds of $770.0 million.

Unless earlier converted or redeemed, each share of the Series A Preferred Stock will automatically convert into between 5.8716 and 7.3394 shares of our common stock, subject to anti-dilution and other adjustments, on the mandatory conversion date, which is expected to be September 15, 2018. The number of shares of our common stock issuable on conversion will be determined based on the volume-weighted average price of our common stock over the 20 trading day period commencing on and including the 23rd scheduled trading day prior to September 15, 2018. Subject to certain restrictions, at any time prior to September 15, 2018, holders of the Series A Preferred Stock may elect to convert all or a portion of their shares into common stock at the minimum conversion rate of 5.8716 shares of common stock per share of Series A Preferred Stock, subject to adjustment.

Dividends on shares of the Series A Preferred Stock are payable on a cumulative basis when, as and if declared by our board of directors, or an authorized committee thereof, at an annual rate of 5.25% on the liquidation preference of $1,000 per share (and, correspondingly, $100.00 per share with respect to the depositary shares). The dividends may be payable in cash, or subject to certain limitations, in shares of our common stock, or any combination of cash and shares of our common stock, on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 of each year, commencing on December 15, 2015, and to, and including, September 15, 2018.

We declared and paid dividends of $39.4 million to the preferred stock shareholders during 2016.

The following table provides information about our repurchases of depository shares of mandatory convertible preferred stock during the year ended December 31, 2016:

	Number of Depository Shares Repurchased		Amount Paid for Repurchases		Average Price Paid per Share
			(in thousands)
Three months ended June 30, 2016		65,000	$	5,025	$	77.31
Three months ended September 30, 2016		265,000		19,238		72.60
Three months ended December 31, 2016		105,000		6,647		63.30
Total		435,000	$	30,910	$	71.06

Repurchases of our mandatory convertible preferred stock resulted in a $11.3 million increase to Retained earnings, because we redeemed the preferred stock at a discount. The 435,000 depository shares are equivalent to 43,500 units of preferred stock.