CAPITAL STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

CAPITAL STOCK

CAPITAL STOCK

NOTE 15 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
	2019	2018	2019	2018
Balance at the beginning of the year	67,341,316	66,742,490	4,424,884	4,881,889
Employee option exercises	1,079,841	1,182,547	(367,705)	(502,005)
Director option exercises	146,083	—	—	—
Restricted stock vestings	41,268	39,691	—	—
Common stock repurchases	—	—	778,848	45,000
Common stock repurchased and retired	—	(623,412)	—	—
Balance at the end of the year	68,608,508	67,341,316	4,836,027	4,424,884

The cash dividends paid on the common stock for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 aggregated $90.2 million, $82.3 million and $79.9 million, respectively.