republic services , inc .notes to consolidated financial statements 2014 ( continued ) employee stock purchase plan republic employees are eligible to participate in an employee stock purchase plan .the plan allows participants to purchase our common stock for 95% ( 95 % ) of its quoted market price on the last day of each calendar quarter .for the years ended december 31 , 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , issuances under this plan totaled 130085 shares , 141055 shares and 139941 shares , respectively .as of december 31 , 2016 , shares reserved for issuance to employees under this plan totaled 0.5 million and republic held employee contributions of approximately $ 1.5 million for the purchase of common stock .12 .stock repurchases and dividends stock repurchases stock repurchase activity during the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 follows ( in millions except per share amounts ) : .
[['', '2016', '2015'], ['number of shares repurchased', '8.4', '9.8'], ['amount paid', '$ 403.8', '$ 404.7'], ['weighted average cost per share', '$ 48.56', '$ 41.39']]
as of december 31 , 2016 , there were no repurchased shares pending settlement .in october 2015 , our board of directors added $ 900.0 million to the existing share repurchase authorization , which now extends through december 31 , 2017 .share repurchases under the program may be made through open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions in accordance with applicable federal securities laws .while the board of directors has approved the program , the timing of any purchases , the prices and the number of shares of common stock to be purchased will be determined by our management , at its discretion , and will depend upon market conditions and other factors .the share repurchase program may be extended , suspended or discontinued at any time .as of december 31 , 2016 , the october 2015 repurchase program had remaining authorized purchase capacity of $ 451.7 million .in december 2015 , our board of directors changed the status of 71272964 treasury shares to authorized and unissued .in doing so , the number of our issued shares was reduced by the stated amount .our accounting policy is to deduct the par value from common stock and to reflect the excess of cost over par value as a deduction from additional paid-in capital .the change in unissued shares resulted in a reduction of $ 2295.3 million in treasury stock , $ 0.6 million in common stock , and $ 2294.7 million in additional paid-in capital .there was no effect on our total stockholders 2019 equity position as a result of the change .dividends in october 2016 , our board of directors approved a quarterly dividend of $ 0.32 per share .cash dividends declared were $ 423.8 million , $ 404.3 million and $ 383.6 million for the years ended december 31 , 2016 , 2015 and 2014 , respectively .as of december 31 , 2016 , we recorded a quarterly dividend payable of $ 108.6 million to shareholders of record at the close of business on january 3 , 2017. .

Question: as of december 31 , 2016 what was the percent of the outstanding authorized purchase capacity of the the october 2015 plan
Answer: 50.2%
Explanation: the repurchase plan of october 2015 had a remaining balance of 50.2% as of december 2016