Capital Stock and Equity Awards (Tables)

The Company declared the following dividends during the first six months of 2020 and 2019:


Date of Declaration	Dividend per Common Share		Payable to Shareholders of Record on	Payment Date	Total Amount (thousands)

2020
February 19, 2020	$	0.30	March 16, 2020	March 31, 2020	$	9,269
April 28, 2020	$	0.30	June 15, 2020	June 30, 2020	$	9,271
	$	0.60			$	18,540
2019
February 20, 2019	$	0.30	March 11, 2019	March 29, 2019	$	9,146
April 30, 2019	$	0.30	June 10, 2019	June 28, 2019	$	9,205
	$	0.60			$	18,351

The following table summarizes option activity:


	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2020				2019
	Shares	Weighted- Average Exercise Price		Shares	Weighted- Average Exercise Price
Outstanding:
Beginning of period	643,851	$	30.41	1,115,324	$	29.02
Granted	—	$	—	—	$	—
Exercised	(29,141)	$	28.78	(336,350)	$	26.22
Forfeited	—	$	—	(5,395)	$	38.13
End of period	614,710	$	30.49	773,579	$	30.18
Exercisable, end of period	614,710	$	30.49	717,610	$	29.24

The following table summarizes RSU activity:


	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2020				2019
	Shares	Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value		Shares	Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value

Unvested, beginning of period	340,368	$	41.50	300,142	$	39.22
Granted	179,016	$	43.55	178,556	$	42.08
Vested	(147,260)	$	41.14	(111,212)	$	39.90
Forfeited	(16,846)	$	42.17	(9,555)	$	40.84
Unvested, end of period	355,278	$	42.65	357,931	$	40.39

Share based compensation expense is recognized on a straight line basis over the vesting period. The amount of expense and related tax benefit is summarized below:


	Three Months Ended June 30,						Six Months Ended June 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019
	(in thousands)
Share based compensation expense	$	1,910	$	1,810	$	3,777	$	3,484
U.S. tax benefit on share based compensation expense	249		220		499		420