CAPITAL STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

We have 199 million authorized shares of common stock. The number of shares of common stock and treasury stock and the share activity were as follows:


	Common Shares			Treasury Shares
	2022	2021	2020	2022	2021	2020
Balance at the beginning of the year	70,370,812	69,516,805	68,608,508	4,852,709	4,528,051	4,836,027
Employee option exercises	301,463	634,572	802,046	(157,682)	(290,316)	(307,976)
Director option exercises	—	47,500	26,551	—	—	—
Restricted stock vestings	176,535	171,935	79,700	—	—	—
Common stock repurchases	—	—	—	860,000	614,974	—

Balance at the end of the year	70,848,810	70,370,812	69,516,805	5,555,027	4,852,709	4,528,051

The cash dividends paid on the common stock for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 aggregated $99.5 million, $98.5 million and $92.7 million, respectively.