Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Stockholders' Equity

v3.19.1
Stockholders' Equity
9 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2019
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]  
Stockholders' Equity

Note 7. Stockholders’ Equity


Preferred Stock


The Company is authorized to issue 10,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our Board of Directors. As of January 31, 2019 and April 30, 2018, we had no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.


Common Stock


During the nine months ended January 31, 2019, the Company issued 86,635 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of stock options.


During the nine months ended January 31, 2019, the Company issued 35,921 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of 64,375 stock warrants.


During the nine months ended January 31, 2019, the Company issued 49,792 shares of common stock upon the exercise of stock options for cash and received proceeds of $110,143.


On September 6, 2018, the Board approved a grant of 25,000 shares of restricted stock to the Chief Financial Officer. The stock vests over 36 months and the stock price was $7.15 on the date of the grant. The value of the compensation was approximately $180,000 and will be recognized over 36 months.


On December 24, 2018, the Compensation Committee of the Board approved a grant of a total of 24,672 shares or restricted common stock to certain directors pursuant to the Aspen Group, Inc. 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2018 Plan”). The restricted shares shall vest in three equal annual increments on December 24, 2019, December 24, 2020 and December 24, 2021, subject to continued service as a director of the Company, on each applicable vesting date. The compensation of these restricted shares is approximately $127,000 and will be recognized over 36 months. Also, in lieu of cash, one director opted for an annual payment in cash of $35,000, which will be paid quarterly. Expense recognition for the restricted stock and the cash payment commenced on December 24, 2018.  


Treasury Stock


On July 19, 2018, AGI in simultaneous transactions repurchased 1,000,000 shares of common stock at $7.40 per share and re-sold the shares to a large well-known institutional money manager at $7.40 per share. The shares were purchased by the Company from ESL pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement dated July 18, 2018. The purchaser paid $30,000 to a broker-dealer in connection with the transaction. (See Note 9)


Warrants


A summary of the Company’s warrant activity during the nine months ended January 31, 2019 is presented below:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted

 

 

Average

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average

 

 

Remaining

 

 

Aggregate

 

 

 

 

Number of

 

 

Exercise

 

 

Contractual

 

 

Intrinsic

 

Warrants

 

 

Shares

 

 

Price

 

 

Term

 

 

Value

 

Balance Outstanding, April 30, 2018

 

 

 

650,847

 

 

$

3.80

 

 

 

2.4

 

 

$

2,581,450

 

Granted

 

 

 

92,049

 

 

 

5.85

 

 

 

4.76

 

 

 

—

 

Exercised

 

 

 

(64,375

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Surrendered

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Expired

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Balance Outstanding, January 31, 2019

 

 

 

678,521

 

 

$

4.23

 

 

 

1.97

 

 

$

888,659

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercisable, January 31, 2019

 

 

 

678,521

 

 

$

4.23

 

 

 

1.97

 

 

$

888,659

 


As noted in Note 5, 92,049 warrants were granted as part of the Credit Facility Agreement executed on November 8, 2018.  The warrants are five year warrants and exercisable at a price of $5.85.


During the quarter ended January 31, 2019, 64,375 warrants were exercised.  All were cashless exercises resulting in 35,921 shares being issued.  


Stock Incentive Plan and Stock Option Grants to Employees and Directors


On March 13, 2012, the Company adopted the Aspen Group, Inc. 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”) that provides for the grant of 3,500,000 shares in the form of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, restricted shares, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units to employees, consultants, officers and directors. As of January 31, 2019, there were no shares remaining available for future issuance under the 2019 Plan.  


On December 13, 2018, the stockholders of the Company approved the “Plan” that provides for the grant of 500,000 shares in the form of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, restricted shares, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units to employees, consultants, officers and directors. As of January 31, 2019, there were approximately 65,000 shares remaining available for future issuance under the Plan.


The Company estimates the fair value of share-based compensation utilizing the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which is dependent upon several variables such as the expected option term, expected volatility of the Company’s stock price over the expected term, expected risk-free interest rate over the expected option term, expected dividend yield rate over the expected option term, and an estimate of expected forfeiture rates. The Company believes this valuation methodology is appropriate for estimating the fair value of stock options granted to employees and directors which are subject to ASC Topic 718 requirements. These amounts are estimates and thus may not be reflective of actual future results, nor amounts ultimately realized by recipients of these grants. The Company recognizes compensation on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period for each award. The following table summarizes the assumptions the Company utilized to record compensation expense for stock options granted to employees during the period ended.


 

 

January 31,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Expected life (years)

 

 

3.5

 

 

 

4-6.5

 

Expected volatility

 

 

51

%

 

 

40% - 43

%

Risk-free interest rate

 

 

2.7

%

 

 

0.38

%

Dividend yield

 

 

0.00

%

 

 

0.00

%

Expected forfeiture rate

 

 

n/a

 

 

 

n/a

 


The Company utilized the simplified method to estimate the expected life for stock options granted to employees. The simplified method was used as the Company does not have sufficient historical data regarding stock option exercises. The expected volatility is based on historical volatility. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yields with terms equivalent to the expected life of the related option at the time of the grant. Dividend yield is based on historical trends. While the Company believes these estimates are reasonable, the compensation expense recorded would increase if the expected life was increased, a higher expected volatility was used, or if the expected dividend yield increased.


A summary of the Company’s stock option activity for employees and directors during the nine months ended January 31, 2019, is presented below:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted

 

 

Average

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average

 

 

Remaining

 

 

Aggregate

 

 

 

Number of

 

 

Exercise

 

 

Contractual

 

 

Intrinsic

 

Options

 

Shares

 

 

Price

 

 

Term

 

 

Value

 

Balance Outstanding, April 30, 2018

 

 

2,980,010

 

 

$

3.62

 

 

 

—

 

 

$

16,558,373

 

Granted

 

 

918,667

 

 

 

7.12

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Exercised

 

 

(195,629

)

 

 

2.23

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Forfeited

 

 

(51,600

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Expired

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Balance Outstanding, January 31, 2019

 

 

3,651,448

 

 

$

4.52

 

 

 

3.08

 

 

$

10,081,298

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercisable, January 31, 2019

 

 

1,630,252

 

 

$

2.65

 

 

 

2.04

 

 

$

7,862,357

 


During the nine months ended January 31, 2019, the Company issued 86,635 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of 145,837  stock options.


During the nine months ended January 31, 2019, the Company issued 49,792 shares of common stock upon the exercise of stock options and received proceeds of $110,143.


On July 19, 2018, the Board granted 200,000 five year options to the Chief Executive Officer and 180,000 options to each of the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Academic Officer. The fair value per option was $2.56 or $1,433,600 for all 560,000 options granted. The exercise price is $7.55 per share. As of September 6, 2018, the Board approved 180,000 five-year options to the Chief Financial Officer and 50,000 five-year options to the Chief Accounting Officer. The fair value of the two grants on September 6, 2018 was $257,400 for the Chief Financial Officer and $71,500 for the Chief Accounting Officer.  As required by the rules of the Nasdaq Stock market, both option grants subject to shareholder approval which occurred on December 13, 2018, which will be the measurement date for recording the transaction and the compensation will be recognized over 33 months.


On December 13, 2018, the Company granted 67,000 options to 61 employees who had been hired throughout 2018.  The fair value of these options were approximately $136,000 and will be recognized over 36 month.  The exercise price is $5.20.


On December 24, 2018, the Company granted 61,667 options to three directors, 41,667 to one director, and 10,000 each to two others.  The exercise price is $5.1445 and the total fair value was approximately $123,000, which will be recognized over 36 months.   


The Company recorded compensation expense of $866,129 for the nine months ended January 31, 2019 in connection with employee stock options and restricted stock grants.


As of January 31, 2019, there was $2,671,603 of unrecognized compensation costs related to non-vested share-based compensation arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 3.0 years