Houghton Company began business on January 1, 2015 by issuing all of its 1,500,000 authorized shares of its $2 par value common stock for $29 per share. On June 30, Houghton declared a cash dividend of $1.00 per share to stockholders of record on July 31. Houghton paid the cash dividend on August 30. On November 1, Houghton reacquired 300,000 of its own shares of stock for $34 per share. On December 22, Houghton resold 150,000 of these shares for $40 per share.

Required: a. Prepare all of the necessary journal entries to record the events described above. (If no entry is required for a transaction/event, select "No Journal Entry Required" in the first account field.)

b. Prepare the stockholders' equity section of the balance sheet as of December 31, 2015 assuming that the net income for the year was $7,500,000.