Capital Stock

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

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 September 30, 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 nine months ended September 30, 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 September 30, 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 the nine months ended September 30, 2019, or 2018. There were 38,737,891 and 38,526,523 shares outstanding at September 30, 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. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, 33,465 shares were repurchased under this program. No shares were repurchased under the program during the nine months ended September 30, 2018. We do not have any other share repurchase programs. There were 23,343,500 and 23,554,868 Treasury Shares at September 30, 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 320,718 and 290,659 Treasury Shares issued for these purposes during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Common stock activity is summarized as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30, 2019						Three Months Ended September 30, 2018
(In thousands)	Common Stock			Treasury Cost			Common Stock			Treasury Cost
Balance at beginning of period	$	218,801		$	(303,744	)	$	204,171		$	(296,870	)
Stock compensation expense	4,044			—			1,904			—
Restricted and performance stock awards	(70		)	70			(93		)	93
Stock options exercised	637			292			1,333			528
Treasury shares purchased	—			(118		)	—			(464		)
Balance at end of period	$	223,412		$	(303,500	)	$	207,315		$	(296,713	)



	Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019						Nine Months Ended September 30, 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	10,130			—			9,595			—
Restricted and performance stock awards	(2,713		)	2,713			(1,594		)	1,594
Stock options exercised	2,967			1,194			4,124			2,030
Treasury shares purchased	—			(7,713		)	—			(4,299		)
Stock consideration in acquisition (Note 19)	921			—			—			—
Employee stock purchase program	301			43			237			43
Share repurchase program	—			(3,347		)	—			—
Balance at end of period	$	223,412		$	(303,500	)	$	207,315		$	(296,713	)