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 ) : .

2017
2016
Number of shares repurchased
9.6
8.4
Amount paid
$610.7
$403.8
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 .

Question: Analyse this data from a financial earnings document. what was the percent change in the weighted average cost per share from 2016 to 2017
Choices:
0.02707
1.30756
31.46623
0.31466
0.45207
Correct choice index: 3