The Company's stock based compensation plan provides for grants of stock options and restricted stock. On January 22, 2020, the shareholders approved the 2020 Incentive Plan. Upon approval of the 2020 Incentive Plan, the 2011 Incentive Plan terminated with respect to future awards, and the remaining shares that were not awarded under the 2011 Incentive Plan as of that date were canceled. A total of 3,200,000 shares were made available for grant under the 2020 Incentive Plan and 1,129,615 shares remain available for issuance as of September 30, 2023.

When applicable, stock options are granted with an exercise price equal to the market price of the Company's stock at the date of grant; those option awards generally vest based on three to five years of continuous service and have 10-year contractual terms. The Company's policy is to issue new shares upon option exercises. The fair value of stock options granted is estimated on the

date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Additionally, there may be other factors that would otherwise have a significant effect on the value of employee stock options granted but are not considered by the model. Expected volatility is based on the historical volatility of the Company's stock. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve that is in effect at the time of grant with a remaining term equal to the options' expected life. The expected term represents the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding.

There were 779,740 stock options granted under the incentive plans during 2023, compared to 352,043 stock options granted in 2022 and no stock options granted in 2021 under the previous plan.

A summary of stock option activity and changes during the year are as follows.


Options	Number of Options	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value (In thousands)
Outstanding at September 30, 2021	1,030,323	$	29.14	8	$	5,330
Granted	352,043	32.49
Exercised	(64,415)	28.16
Forfeited	(180,343)	30.24
Outstanding at September 30, 2022	1,137,608	30.06		8	—
Granted	779,740	28.47
Exercised	(35,877)	30.39
Forfeited	(173,646)	30.07
Outstanding at September 30, 2023	1,707,825	$	29.32	8	$	—
Exercisable at September 30, 2023	318,695	$	33.15	7	$	—


Year ended September 30,	2023		2022		2021
	(In thousands, except grant date fair value per stock option)
Compensation cost for stock options	$	1,875	$	1,296	$	1,676
Weighted average grant date fair value per stock option	5.91		5.10		4.39
Total intrinsic value of options exercised	214		433		276
Grant date fair value of options exercised	198		345		78
Cash received from option exercises	1,089		1,823		339


Year ended September 30,	2023			2022			2021
Unvested Stock Options	Options Outstanding	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Options Outstanding	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Options Outstanding	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at beginning of period	981,410	$	5.07	1,031,134	$	4.39	1,210,689	$	4.38
Granted	779,740	7.11		352,043	7.18		—	—
Vested	(217,695)	6.13		(223,387)	5.32		—	—
Forfeited	(153,033)	5.38		(178,380)	5.02		(179,555)	4.31
Outstanding at end of period	1,390,422	$	5.93	981,410	$	5.07	1,031,134	$	4.39

The Company grants shares of restricted stock pursuant to the incentive plans. The restricted stock grants are subject to a service condition and vest over a period of one to seven years.

Certain grants of restricted stock to executive officers are also subject to additional market and performance conditions based upon meeting certain total shareholder return targets pre-established by the Board. The Company had a total of 495,782 shares of restricted stock outstanding as of September 30, 2023, with a total grant date fair value of $12,097,081.

The following table summarizes information about unvested restricted stock activity.


Year ended September 30,	2023			2022			2021
Non-vested Restricted Stock	Outstanding	Weighted Average Fair Value		Outstanding	Weighted Average Fair Value		Outstanding	Weighted Average Fair Value
Outstanding at beginning of period	489,777	$	21.64	522,991	$	19.96	409,469	$	24.32
Granted	247,966	26.48		224,593	25.34		331,344	17.04
Vested	(119,956)	29.87		(246,119)	21.34		(132,649)	30.64
Forfeited	(122,005)	12.16		(11,688)	23.96		(85,173)	12.94
Outstanding at end of period	495,782	$	24.40	489,777	$	21.64	522,991	$	19.96

Compensation expense related to restricted stock awards was $4,512,000, $4,367,000, and $4,473,000 for the years ended 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.