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 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , issuances under this plan totaled 113941 shares , 130085 shares and 141055 shares , respectively . as of december 31 , 2017 , shares reserved for issuance to employees under this plan totaled 0.4 million and republic held employee contributions of approximately $ 1.8 million for the purchase of common stock . 12 . stock repurchases and dividends stock repurchases stock repurchase activity during the years ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 follows ( in millions except per share amounts ) : .

1	2017	2016
2	number of shares repurchased	9.6	8.4
3	amount paid	$ 610.7	$ 403.8
4	weighted average cost per share	$ 63.84	$ 48.56

as of december 31 , 2017 , there were 0.5 million repurchased shares pending settlement and $ 33.8 million was unpaid and included within other accrued liabilities . in october 2017 , our board of directors added $ 2.0 billion to the existing share repurchase authorization that now extends through december 31 , 2020 . before this , $ 98.4 million remained under a prior authorization . 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 , 2017 , the remaining authorized purchase capacity under our october 2017 repurchase program was $ 1.8 billion . 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 2017 , our board of directors approved a quarterly dividend of $ 0.345 per share . cash dividends declared were $ 446.3 million , $ 423.8 million and $ 404.3 million for the years ended december 31 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively . as of december 31 , 2017 , we recorded a quarterly dividend payable of $ 114.4 million to shareholders of record at the close of business on january 2 , 2018 . 13 . earnings per share basic earnings per share is computed by dividing net income attributable to republic services , inc . by the weighted average number of common shares ( including vested but unissued rsus ) outstanding during the .

Previous questions in this conversation: what is the weighted average cost per share in 2017? what about in 2016? what is the net change? what is the weighted average cost per share in 2016?
Previous answers: 63.84 48.56 15.28 48.56
Question: what percentage change does this represent?
Answer: 0.31466