4. 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. Dividends paid totaled $0.505, $0.34, and $0.30 per share for the years ended April 30, 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively.

Preferred share purchase rights On April 16, 2010, the Board of Directors adopted a Rights Plan, providing for the distribution of one right for each share of common stock outstanding. Each right entitled the holder to purchase one one-thousandth (1/1000^th) of a share of Series A Serial Preferred Stock, no par value per share, of the Company at a price of $95.00. Each right also entitled the holder to purchase common shares in the surviving entity at 50% of the market price. The rights generally became exercisable at the discretion of the Board of Directors following a public announcement that 15% or more of the Company's common stock has been acquired or an intent to acquire has become apparent. The rights expired on April 15, 2011.

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 4,944,000 shares available for grant at April 30, 2011 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 be counted as one share, and each share issued pursuant to an award of restricted stock or restricted stock units will reduce the shares available for grant by two. On June 23, 2010, restricted stock units with respect to a total of 14,000 shares were granted to the non-employee members of the Board. On March 22, 2011, an additional 14,000 shares of restricted stock units were also granted to the non-employee members of the Board. On June 23, 2011, restricted stock units with respect to a total of 15,000 shares were granted to the employee member of the Board. Additional information regarding the Plan is provided in the Company's 2010 Proxy Statement. Under the Company's Prior Plans, options could have been granted to non-employee directors, certain officers, and key employees to purchase an aggregate of 5,260,000 shares of common stock. At April 30, 2011, options for 775,109 shares (which expire between 2011 and 2019) were outstanding. All stock option shares issued are previously unissued authorized shares.

On June 23, 2011, stock options totaling 441,000 shares were granted to certain officers and key employees. These awards will vest on June 23, 2014, and compensation expense is being recognized ratably over the vesting period.

On June 23, 2009, stock options totaling 361,000 shares were granted to certain officers and key employees. These awards will vest on June 23, 2012, and compensation expense is being recognized ratably over the vesting period.

The 2000 Stock Option Plan allowed the grant of options with an exercise price equal to the fair value of the Company's stock on the date of grant that expired ten years after the date of grant. Vesting was generally over a three to five-year service period. The Non-employee Directors' Stock Option Plan allowed the grant of options with an exercise price equal to the average of the last reported sale prices of shares of common stock on the last trading day of each of the twelve months preceding the award of the option. The term of such options was ten years from the date of grant, and each option is exercisable immediately upon grant. The aggregate number of shares of Common Stock that could have been granted pursuant to the Director Stock Plan was 200,000 shares, subject to adjustment to reflect any future stock dividends, stock splits, or other relevant capitalization changes.

The following table shows the stock option activity during the periods indicated:

	Number of shares		Weighted average exercise price
Balance at April 30, 2008	783,550	$	19.74
Granted	12,000		26.51
Exercised	(93,550)		14.39
Forfeited	(24,000)		23.80
Balance at April 30, 2009	678,000	$	20.45
Granted	377,000		25.27
Exercised	(83,450)		14.85
Forfeited	(12,000)		24.41
Balance at April 30, 2010	959,550	$	22.78
Granted	--------		--------
Exercised	(184,441)		20.24
Forfeited	--------		--------
Balance at April 30, 2011	775,109	$	23.38

At April 30, 2011, all outstanding options had an aggregate intrinsic value of $12,136 and a weighted average remaining contractual life of 6.2 years. The vested options totaled 432,109 shares with a weighted average exercise price of $21.89 per share and a weighted average remaining contractual life of 4.7 years. The aggregate intrinsic value for the vested options as of April 30, 2011 was $7,406. The aggregate intrinsic value for the total of all options exercised during the year ended April 30, 2011 was $3,681, and the total fair value of shares vested during the year ended April 30, 2011 was $401.

Total compensation costs recorded for the years ended April 30, 2011, 2010 and 2009 were $2,066, $2,031, and $1,256, respectively, for the stock option and restricted stock awards. As of April 30, 2011, there was $1,250 of total unrecognized compensation costs related to the 2000 Stock Option Plan for stock options that are expected to be recognized ratably through 2013.

At April 30, 2011, the range of exercise prices was $11.74–$26.92 and the weighted average remaining contractual life of outstanding options was 6.2 years. The number of shares and weighted average remaining contractual life of the options by range of applicable exercise prices at April 30, 2011 were as follows:

	Range of exercise prices	Number of shares		Weighted average exercise price	Weighted average remaining contractual life (years)

$	11.74-13.07	10,500	$	12.02	.6
	14.08-17.64	82,300		14.46	2.3
	20.68-26.92	682,809		24.63	6.8
		775,609