CHFC 2018 Annual Report

PART II. 34 Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. Our common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market ® under the symbol CHFC. As of December 31, 2018, there were approximately 71.5 million shares of our common stock issued and outstanding, held by approximately 4,665 shareholders of record. The earnings of Chemical Bank are the principal source of funds to pay cash dividends to our shareholders. Accordingly, cash dividends are dependent upon the earnings, capital needs, regulatory constraints, and other factors affecting Chemical Bank. See Note 21 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report for a discussion of such limitations. We have paid regular cash dividends every quarter since we began operation as a bank holding company in 1973. Based on our financial condition at December 31, 2018, management expects to continue to pay quarterly cash dividends on our common shares in 2019. However, there can be no assurance as to future dividends because they are dependent on our future earnings, capital requirements and financial condition, and may require regulatory approval. On January 22, 2019, we declared a first quarter 2019 cash dividend of $0.34 per share, payable on March 15, 2019. The following table summarizes the quarterly cash dividends paid to shareholders over the past five years. Years Ended December 31, 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 First quarter $ 0.28 $ 0.27 $ 0.26 $ 0.24 $ 0.23 Second quarter 0.28 0.27 0.26 0.24 0.23 Third quarter 0.34 0.28 0.27 0.26 0.24 Fourth quarter 0.34 0.28 0.27 0.26 0.24 Total $ 1.24 $ 1.10 $ 1.06 $ 1.00 $ 0.94