PREFERRED AND COMMON STOCK

Preferred stock The Company has 1,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock, of which 250,000 shares have been designated as Series A Serial Preferred Stock. No shares have been issued.

Common stock The Company currently has 120,000,000 authorized shares of common stock.

Stock option plans The 2009 Stock Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) was approved by the Board of Directors in June 2009 and approved by the shareholders in September 2009. The Plan replaced the 2000 Option Plan and the Non-employee Director Stock Plan (together, the “Prior Plans”). There are 3,250,062 shares available for grant at April 30, 2017 under the Plan. Awards made under the Plan may take the form of stock options, restricted stock or restricted stock units. Each share issued pursuant to a stock option will reduce the shares available for grant by one, and each share issued pursuant to an award of restricted stock or restricted stock units will reduce the shares available for grant by two. Restricted stock is transferred to the employee or non-employee immediately upon grant, whereas restricted stock units have a vesting period that must expire before the stock is transferred. We account for stock-based compensation by estimating the fair value of stock options using the Black Scholes model, and value restricted stock unit awards granted under the Plan using market price of a share of our common stock on the date of grant. We recognize this fair value as an operating expense in our consolidated statements of income over the requisite service period using the straight-line method, as adjusted for certain retirement provisions. At April 30, 2017, stock options for 222,050 shares (which expire between fiscal years 2018 through 2022) were outstanding. All stock option shares issued are previously unissued authorized shares.

The following table summarizes the most recent compensation grants made during the three-year period ended April 30, 2017:



Date of Grant	Type of Grant	Shares Granted	Recipients	Vesting Date	Fair Value at Grant Date

June 6, 2014	Restricted Stock Units	91,000	Officers & Key employees	June 6, 2017	$6,584
June 6, 2014	Restricted Stock	30,538	Officers & Key employees	Immediate (Annual performance goal)	$2,209
September 19, 2014	Restricted Stock	13,955	Non-employee board members	Immediate	$990
June 5, 2015	Restricted Stock Units	104,200	Officers & Key employees	June 5, 2018	$9,135
June 5, 2015	Restricted Stock	48,913	Officers & Key employees	Immediate (Annual performance goal)	$4,288
September 18, 2015	Restricted Stock	7,748	Non-employee board members	Immediate	$856
April 12, 2016	Restricted Stock Units	10,000	CEO	20% each May 1, 2017-2021	$1,060
June 3, 2016	Restricted Stock Units	111,150	Officers & Key employees	June 3, 2019	$13,849
June 3, 2016	Restricted Stock	40,996	Officers & Key employees	Immediate (Annual performance goal)	$5,108
September 16, 2016	Restricted Stock	8,941	Non-employee board members	Immediate	$1,064

Information concerning the issuance of stock options under the Plan and Prior Plans is presented in the following table:



	Number of option shares		Weighted average option exercise price
Outstanding at April 30, 2014	712,024		$	36.73
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(310,224	)	36.96
Forfeited	—		—
Outstanding at April 30, 2015	401,800		$	36.55
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(108,100	)	34.37
Forfeited	(2,500	)	25.26
Outstanding at April 30, 2016	291,200		$	37.46
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(69,150	)	34.08
Forfeited	—		—
Outstanding at April 30, 2017	222,050		$	38.51

At April 30, 2017, all outstanding options had an aggregate intrinsic value of $16,335 and a weighted average remaining contractual life of 3.49 years. All options are vested as of April 30, 2017. The aggregate intrinsic value for the total of all options exercised during the year ended April 30, 2017 was $6,137.

At April 30, 2017, the range of exercise prices for outstanding options was $25.26 – $44.39. The number of shares and weighted average remaining contractual life of the options by range of applicable exercise prices at April 30, 2017 were as follows:



Range of exercise prices	Number of shares	Weighted average exercise price	Weighted average remaining contractual life (years)
25.26-25.49	62,350	25.28	2.2
26.51-26.92	6,500	26.73	0.6
44.39	153,200	44.39	4.2
	222,050

Information concerning the issuance of restricted stock units under the Plan is presented in the following table:




Unvested at April 30, 2014	148,546
Granted	91,000
Vested	(38,198	)
Forfeited	(7,418	)
Unvested at April 30, 2015	193,930
Granted	114,200
Vested	(31,480	)
Forfeited	(3,750	)
Unvested at April 30, 2016	272,900
Granted	111,150
Vested	(73,000	)
Forfeited	(7,650	)
Unvested at April 30, 2017	303,400

Total compensation costs recorded for the stock options, restricted stock, and restricted stock unit awards for the years ended April 30, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were $10,697, $7,413, and $7,307, respectively. As of April 30, 2017, there was $12,693 of total unrecognized compensation costs related to the Plan and Prior Plans for costs related to restricted stock units which are expected to be recognized ratably through fiscal 2020.

ASU No 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting was issued in March 2016 and early adopted by the Company in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. ASU 2016-09 eliminates the requirement to estimate and apply a forfeiture rate to reduce stock compensation expense during the vesting period, and instead, provides an alternative option to account for forfeitures as they occur, which is the option the Company adopted. ASU 2016-09 requires that this change be adopted using the modified retrospective approach. The adoption of this section had no material impact on the financial statements. Additionally, ASU 2016-09 addresses the presentation of excess tax benefits and employee taxes paid on the statement of cash flows. The standard requires presentation of excess tax benefits as an operating activity (combined with other income tax cash flows) on the statement of cash flows rather than as a financing activity. We adopted this change prospectively during the first quarter of 2017. ASU 2016-09 also requires the presentation of amounts withheld for applicable income taxes on employee share-based awards as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. This adoption is reflected in the cash flow statement on a retrospective basis, which resulted in an increase in net cash used in financing activities and an increase in net cash provided by operating activities of $4,975 and $3,339 for the periods ended April 30, 2016 and April 30, 2015, respectively.

ASU No 2016-09 also eliminates additional paid in capital ("APIC") pools and requires excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies to be recorded in the income statement when the awards vest or are settled. This requirement is to be adopted prospectively by the Company. The impact of this section of the standard was a benefit of $3,046 to income tax expense for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. In addition, the ASU requires that the excess tax benefit be removed from the overall calculation of diluted shares. The impact on diluted earnings per share of this adoption was not material.

Finally, modified retrospective adoption of ASC 2016-09 eliminates the requirement that excess tax benefits be realized (i.e. through a reduction in income taxes payable) before they are recognized. The adoption of this portion of the standard had no impact on the financial statements.

During the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2017, the Company began a share repurchase program, wherein the Company is authorized to repurchase up to an aggregate of $300 million of the Company's outstanding common stock. The share repurchase authorization is valid for a period of two years. The timing and number of repurchase transactions under the program depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to market conditions, corporate considerations, business opportunities, debt agreements, and regulatory requirements. The program can be suspended or discontinued at any time. From its inception on March 9, 2017, through the end of fiscal year 2017, the company repurchased 443,800 shares of its common stock under its open market share repurchase program, for approximately $49.4 million. As of April 30, 2017, the Company had a total remaining authorized amount for share repurchases of $250.6 million.