Stockholder's Equity, Stock-Based Compensation Expense and Repurchase Plan

At-The-Market Equity Offering Program

On December 22, 2016 the Company announced that it filed a prospectus supplement under which it may sell up to $20 million of its common stock through an "at-the-market" equity offering program (the "ATM Program"). ION intended to use the net proceeds from sales under the ATM Program to be positioned to capitalize on opportunities such as acquiring complementary distressed assets, or other value-added transactions. The timing of any sales depended on a variety of factors to be determined by ION. Effective May 2, 2017, the Company terminated and canceled the ATM Program. No shares were sold pursuant to the ATM Program.

Stock-Based Compensation

The total number of shares issued or reserved for future issuance under outstanding stock options at June 30, 2017 and 2016 was 838,582 and 900,623, respectively, and the total number of shares of restricted stock and shares reserved for restricted stock units outstanding at June 30, 2017 and 2016 was 187,675 and 293,709, respectively. The following table presents a summary of the activity related to stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock unit awards for the six months ended June 30, 2017:



	Stock Options		Restricted Stock and Unit Awards
	Number of Shares
Outstanding at December 31, 2016	847,635		285,308
Granted	—		17,500
Stock options exercised/restricted stock/unit awards vested	—		(115,133	)
Cancelled/forfeited	(9,053	)	—
Outstanding at June 30, 2017	838,582		187,675

Stock-based compensation expense recognized for the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016, totaled $1.2 million and $1.6 million, respectively.

In the first quarter 2017, the Company adopted ASU 2016-09, "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting," that changed how the Company accounts for certain aspects of share-based payments to employees. The Company is required to recognize the income tax effects of awards in the statement of income when the awards vest or are settled. The guidance on employers’ accounting for an employee’s use of shares to satisfy the employer’s statutory income tax withholding obligation and for forfeitures is changing and the update requires companies to present excess tax benefits as an operating activity on the statement of cash flows rather than as a financing activity. There was no impact of adoption of ASU 2016-09 on net income, basic and diluted earnings per share, deferred tax assets or net cash from operations.

Stock Repurchase Program

On November 4, 2015, the Company’s board of directors approved a stock repurchase program authorizing a Company stock repurchase, from time to time from November 10, 2015, through November 10, 2017, up to $25 million in shares of the Company’s outstanding common stock. The stock repurchase program may be implemented through open market repurchases or privately negotiated transactions, at management’s discretion. The actual timing, number and value of shares repurchased under the program will be determined by management at its discretion and will depend on a number of factors including the market price of the shares of our common stock and general market and economic conditions, applicable legal requirements and compliance with the terms of our outstanding indebtedness. The repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock and may be modified or suspended at any time and could be terminated prior to completion. As of June 30, 2017, the Company was authorized to repurchase up to $25 million through November 17, 2017, and had repurchased $3.0 million or 451,792 shares of its common stock under the repurchase program at an average price per share of $6.41.