Capital Stock

Preferred Stock - The Company has authorized 100,000 shares of $50 par value 4.5% cumulative preferred nonvoting stock which is callable at $52.50. There are 71,340 shares issued and 52,878 shares held in treasury at March 31, 2019. The Treasury shares at cost line on the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet includes $1.8 million related to preferred stock. There were no treasury purchases of preferred stock during the three months ended March 31, 2019 or 2018. The Company has also authorized 1,000,000 shares of $10 par value second cumulative preferred voting stock. No shares have been issued as of March 31, 2019.

Common Stock - The Company has authorized 180,000,000 shares of no par value common stock. There were 62,081,391 shares issued as of December 31, 2018. No new shares were issued during three months ended March 31, 2019 or 2018. There were 38,682,918 and 38,526,523 shares outstanding at March 31, 2019, and December 31, 2018, respectively.

Treasury Shares - The Company's share repurchase program authorizes up to $100.0 million to repurchase MSA common stock in the open market and in private transactions. The share purchase program has no expiration date. The maximum number of shares that may be purchased is calculated based on the dollars remaining under the program and the respective month-end closing share price. No shares were repurchased under this program during the three months ended March 31, 2019 or 2018. We do not have any other share repurchase programs. There were 23,398,473 and 23,554,868 Treasury Shares at March 31, 2019, and December 31, 2018, respectively.

The Company issues Treasury Shares for all share based benefit plans. Shares are issued from Treasury at the average Treasury Share cost on the date of the transaction. There were 230,112 and 111,902 Treasury Shares issued for these purposes during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Common stock activity is summarized as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31, 2019				Three Months Ended March 31, 2018
(In thousands)	Common Stock		Treasury Cost		Common Stock		Treasury Cost
Balance at beginning of period	211,806		(296,390	)	194,953		(296,081	)
Stock compensation expense	2,745		—		5,606		—
Restricted and performance stock awards	(2,411	)	2,411		(1,102	)	1,102
Stock options exercised	959		506		545		302
Treasury shares purchased	—		(7,446	)	—		(2,673	)
Balance at end of period	213,099		(300,919	)	200,002		(297,350	)