CASH 2018 Annual Report

136 NOTE 5. EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE EPS 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. On October 5, 2018, Meta common stock began trading on a split-adjusted basis as a result of the 3-for-1 forward stock split with respect to Meta's common stock, which was effected on October 4, 2018. As a result of the stock split, the number of issued and outstanding shares of Meta common stock increased to 39.2 million shares, which includes shares issued pursuant to the Crestmark Acquisition. A reconciliation of the net income and common stock share amounts used in the computation of basic and diluted EPS for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2018, 2017 and 2016 is presented below. All share and per share data reported for all periods presented in the table below has been adjusted to reflect the 3-for-1 forward stock split. 2018 2017 2016 (Dollars in Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data) Basic income per common share: Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc. $ 51,620 $ 44,917 $ 33,220 Weighted average common shares outstanding 30,737,499 27,741,276 25,331,868 Basic income per common share $ 1.68 $ 1.62 $ 1.31 Diluted income per common share: Net income attributable to Meta Financial Group, Inc. $ 51,620 $ 44,917 $ 33,220 Weighted average common shares outstanding 30,737,499 27,741,276 25,331,868 Outstanding options - based upon the two-class method 115,551 166,956 160,170 Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding 30,853,050 27,908,232 25,492,038 Diluted income per common share $ 1.67 $ 1.61 $ 1.30 All stock options were considered in computing diluted EPS for the years ended September 30, 2018, 2017, and 2016.