EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE

Earnings per share is computed after deducting dividends. The Company has granted restricted share awards with dividend rights that are considered to be participating securities. Accordingly, a portion of the Company’s earnings is allocated to those participating securities in the EPS calculation. Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing income available to common stockholders after the allocation of dividends and undistributed earnings to the participating securities by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted earnings per share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised, and is computed after giving consideration to the weighted average dilutive effect of the Company’s stock options and after the allocation of earnings to the participating securities. Antidilutive options are disregarded in the EPS calculations.

A reconciliation of net income and common stock share amounts used in the computation of basic and diluted EPS for the three and six months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 is presented below.



Three Months Ended March 31,	2017		2016 ⁽¹⁾
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)
Basic income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	32,142	$	14,283
Less income allocated to dividends for common stock and nonvested restricted stock	1,214		1,105
Net income allocated to common shareholders for basic EPS	30,928		13,178
Weighted average common shares outstanding	9,345,277		8,496,357
Basic income per common share	3.44		1.68

Diluted income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	32,142	$	14,283
Less income allocated to dividends for common stock and nonvested restricted stock	1,214		1,105
Net income allocated to common stock for diluted EPS	30,928		13,178
Weighted average common shares outstanding	9,345,277		8,496,357
Outstanding options - based upon the two-class method	54,674		61,176
Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding	9,399,951		8,557,533
Diluted income per common share	3.42		1.67



Six Months Ended March 31,	2017		2016 ⁽¹⁾
(Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)
Basic income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	33,386	$	18,341
Less income allocated to dividends for common stock and nonvested restricted stock	1,187		1,088
Net income allocated to common shareholders for basic EPS	32,199		17,253
Average common shares outstanding	9,138,692		8,369,523
Basic income per common share	3.65		2.19

Diluted income per common share:
Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc.	$	33,386	$	18,341
Less income allocated to dividends for common stock and nonvested restricted stock	1,187		1,088
Net income allocated to common stock for diluted EPS	32,199		17,253
Average common shares outstanding	9,138,692		8,369,523
Outstanding options - based upon the two-class method	53,790		63,551
Average diluted common shares outstanding	9,192,482		8,433,074
Diluted income per common share	3.63		2.17

(1) See Note 1 Basis of Presentation for additional information describing adjustments made to the Company's EPS calculation. March 2016 QTD basic EPS of $1.69 was corrected to $1.68 and diluted EPS of $1.68 was corrected to $1.67. March 2016 YTD basic EPS of $2.20 was corrected to $2.19 and diluted EPS of $2.18 was corrected to $2.17.