Note 7. Stockholders’ Equity

Preferred Stock

On June 28, 2019, the Company amended its Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, to reduce in the number of shares of common stock the Company is authorized to issue from 250,000,000 to 40,000,000 shares, and the number of shares of preferred stock the Company is authorized to issue from 10,000,000 to 1,000,000 shares. The stockholders of the Company had previously approved the Amendment at a special meeting of stockholders held on June 28, 2019.

The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 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 July 31, 2019 and April 30, 2019, we had no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.

Common Stock

The Company is authorized to issue 40,000,000 shares of common stock.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 101,894 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of stock options.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 19,403 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of 43,860 warrants.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 21,876 shares of common stock upon the exercise of stock options for cash and received proceeds of $45,190.

Restricted Stock

There were 99,803 unvested shares of restricted common stock outstanding at July 31, 2019. Total unrecognized compensation expense related to the unvested common stock as of July 31, 2019 amounted to approximately $1.6 million which will be amortized over the remaining vesting periods.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 30,131 shares of restricted common stock to certain directors with a fair value of $122,332.

On June 18, 2019, in order to correct errors in a third party software system used to track stock options, the Company granted Andrew Kaplan, a current director, 5,131 shares of restricted common stock and two former directors (not recipients of the May 2019 stock options mentioned above) a total of 25,000 shares of restricted common stock.

During fiscal 2019, the Company granted 25,000 shares to its investor relations firm, of which 5,000 were vested with the balance vesting quarterly over one year, subject to continued service. The total value was $122,250 which will be recognized over the service period.

The Board approved a grant of 25,000 shares of restricted stock to the Chief Financial Officer in September 2018. 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 Company granted a total of 24,672 shares to certain directors with a value of $126,320 which will be recognized over 36 months.

Warrants

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

On June 3, 2019, a former director elected a cashless exercise of 21,930 warrants, receiving 9,806 shares. On June 7, 2019, the CEO elected a cashless exercise for the same amount receiving 9,597 shares.

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 July 31, 2019, there were 229,238 shares remaining available for future issuance under the 2012 Plan.

On December 13, 2018, the stockholders of the Company approved the Aspen Group, Inc. 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2018 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 July 31, 2019, there were 10,852 shares remaining available for future issuance under the 2018 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.

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 three months ended July 31, 2019, is presented below:

Effective May 13, 2019, the Company granted a total of 30,000 five-year non-qualified stock options to certain former directors exercisable at $4.12 per share.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 101,894 shares of common stock upon the cashless exercise of stock options.

During the three months ended July 31, 2019, the Company issued 21,876 shares of common stock upon the exercise of stock options for cash and received proceeds of $45,190.

The Company recorded a compensation expense of $498,417 for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2019 in connection with stock options and restricted stock grants.

As of July 31, 2019, there was $1,576,081 of unrecognized compensation costs related to non-vested share-based option arrangements. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 2.0 years.