6.Equity

Equity activity was as follows (in thousands):


	Total
	Equity
Balance at December 31, 2016	$	740,048
Net income		67,506
Proceeds from common stock issued, net of issuance costs		14,529
Stock-based compensation expense		3,967
Performance based stock units		(6)
Stock option exercise		202
Common stock dividends		(67,664)
Other		(1,947)
Balance at September 30, 2017	$	756,635

Common Stock. We have an equity distribution agreement to issue and sell, from time to time, up to $200,000,000 in aggregate offering price of our company common share. During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, we sold 312,881 shares of common stock for $14,578,000 in net proceeds under our equity distribution agreement. The proceeds were used to pay down our unsecured revolving line of credit. In conjunction with the sale of common stock, we paid $260,000 as compensation to our sales agents and we reclassified $49,000 of accumulated costs associated with this agreement to additional paid in capital. Accordingly, at September 30, 2017, we had $185,162,000 available under our Equity Distribution Agreements.

Also, during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, we acquired 41,592 shares and 49,094 shares respectively, of common stock held by employees who tendered owned shares to satisfy tax withholding obligations.

Available Shelf Registrations. In 2016, we filed a new automatic shelf registration statement to provide us with additional capacity to publicly offer an indeterminate amount of common stock, preferred stock, warrants, debt, depositary shares, or units. We may from time to time raise capital under the automatic registration statement we filed in 2016 (until its expiration on January 29, 2019) in amounts, at prices, and on terms to be announced when and if the securities are offered. The specifics of any future offerings, along with the use of proceeds of any securities offered, will be described in detail in a prospectus supplement, or other offering materials, at the time of the offering.

Distributions. We declared and paid the following cash dividends (in thousands):


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2017						September 30, 2016
	Declared			Paid			Declared			Paid
Common Stock	$	67,664	(1)	$	67,664	(1)	$	62,211	(2)	$	62,211	(2)

⁽¹⁾

Represents $0.19 per share per month for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.

⁽²⁾

Represents $0.18 per share per month for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

In October 2017, we declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.19 per share on our common stock for the months of October, November and December, payable on October 31, November 30, and December 29, 2017, respectively, to stockholders of record on October 23, November 22, and December 21, 2017, respectively.

Stock-Based Compensation. During 2015, we adopted and our shareholders approved the 2015 Equity Participation Plan (or the 2015 Plan) which replaced the 2008 Equity Participation Plan (or the 2008 Plan). Under the 2015 Plan, 1,400,000 shares of common stock have been reserved for awards, including nonqualified stock option grants and restricted stock grants to officers, employees, non-employee directors and consultants. The terms of the awards granted under the 2015 Plan are set by our compensation committee at its discretion.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, no stock options were granted. The stock options exercised during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 were as follows:


		Weighted
		Average
	Options	Exercise		Option		Market
	Exercised	Price		Value		Value(1)
2017	8,334	$	24.31	$	202,566	$	410,797
2016	6,667	$	23.79	$	159,000	$	311,000

(1)

As of exercise date.

At September 30, 2017, we had 25,000 stock options outstanding and exercisable. Compensation expense related to the vesting of stock options was $2,000 and $11,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, we cancelled 15,400 and 640 shares of restricted stock, respectively, under the 2015 Plan and 2008 Plan. Additionally, during the nine months ended September 30, 2017, we cancelled 8,706 performance-based stock units. During the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, we granted restricted stock and performance-based stock units under the 2015 Plan as follows:


	No. of	Price per
Year	Shares/Units	Share		Vesting Period
2017	74,760	$	45.76	ratably over 3 years
	57,881	$	45.76	TSR targets (1)
	7,416	$	48.55	June 1, 2018
	3,000	$	50.50	ratably over 3 years
	143,057

2016	65,300	$	43.24	ratably over 3 years
	54,107	$	46.87	TSR targets (2)
	7,680	$	46.87	June 1, 2017
	127,087

⁽¹⁾

Vesting is based on achieving certain total shareholder return (or TSR) targets in 4 years with acceleration opportunity in 3 years.

⁽²⁾

Vesting is based on achieving certain TSR targets in 3.7 years with acceleration opportunity in 2.7 years.

Compensation expense recognized related to the vesting of restricted common stock for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $3,965,000, compared to $3,138,000 for the same period in 2016. At September 30, 2017, the remaining compensation expense to be recognized related to the future service period of unvested outstanding restricted common stock and performance-based stock units are as follows:


	Remaining
	Compensation
Vesting Date	Expense
2017	$	1,282,000
2018		3,947,000
2019		2,149,000
2020		259,000
	$	7,637,000