Share-Based Compensation

3 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2016

Share-Based Compensation [Abstract]

Share-Based Compensation

3. Share-Based Compensation

The Company has share-based compensation plans under which employees may be granted performance-based stock awards and other restricted stock awards. Prior to fiscal year 2017, the Company also granted options to purchase shares of Company common stock at the fair market value at the time of grant. The Company recognizes the grant date fair value of share-based compensation in net income on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. The measurement of performance for performance-based stock awards is based on actual financial results for targets established three years in advance. For the three months ended July 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company recognized share-based compensation expense, on a pre-tax basis, of $0.2 million and $3.9 million, respectively. The decrease from prior year was mainly driven by a reduction in the number of performance-based stock awards expected to vest based on the Company’s financial results.

The following table provides restricted stock data for awards granted by the Company:

	For the Three Months Ended July 31,
	2016	2015
Restricted Stock:
Awards granted (in thousands)	368	285
Weighted average fair value of grant	$51.04	$55.99

For the three months ended July 31, 2016 the Company did not grant any stock option awards. For the three months ended July 31, 2015, the Company granted 160,153 stock option awards at a weighted average grant fair value of $14.77. The weighted average Black-Scholes fair value assumptions for the fiscal year 2015 stock option grants were as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended July 31,
	2015
Expected life of options (years)	7.2
Risk-free interest rate	2.1%
Expected volatility	29.7%
Expected dividend yield	2.1%
Fair value of common stock on grant date	$55.99