CAPITAL STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

CAPITAL STOCK

CAPITAL STOCK

CAPITAL STOCK

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
	2023	2022	2021	2023	2022	2021
Balance at the beginning of the year	70,848,810	70,370,812	69,516,805	5,555,027	4,852,709	4,528,051
Employee option exercises	679,878	301,463	634,572	(178,326)	(157,682)	(290,316)
Director option exercises	—	—	47,500	—	—	—
Restricted stock vestings	150,970	176,535	171,935	—	—	—
Common stock repurchases	—	—	—	398,594	860,000	614,974
Balance at the end of the year	71,679,658	70,848,810	70,370,812	5,775,295	5,555,027	4,852,709

The cash dividends paid on the common stock for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 aggregated $103.7 million, $99.5 million and $98.5 million, respectively.