5. EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS

Qualified and non-qualified options to purchase shares of common stock may be granted to directors, officers and employees of the

Company under the terms of the Company’s stock option plans. These options are granted at an exercise price of not less than the fair market value of the stock on the date of grant. Options vest ratably over three and five year periods and the contractual terms are generally five or ten years. A summary of stock option activity during the nine months ended February 28, 2018 follows:


				Weighted-
				Average
	Shares			Exercise Price
	(in thousands)
Options outstanding June 1, 2017		2,708		$	32.88
Granted		819			59.26
Exercised		(668	)		28.23
Forfeited		(144	)		37.31

Options outstanding February 28, 2018		2,715			41.75

During the three and nine month periods ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, the Company recorded $1,026,000 and $1,198,000 and $3,692,000 and $3,932,000, respectively, of compensation expense related to its share-based awards. On June 1, 2017, the Company adopted ASU No. 2016-09, which simplifies the accounting for share-based payments to employees. The guidance requires the recognition of the income effects of awards in the income statement when the awards vest or are settled, thus eliminating additional paid-in capital pools. The guidance also allows for a policy election to account for forfeitures as they occur, rather than on an estimated basis, and requires that excess tax benefits be classified as an operating activity on the Statement of Cash Flows. The adoption of this ASU increased income tax expense by $331,000 for the three months ended February 28, 2018 as the reduction in the corporate tax rate from the tax reform enacted in December 2017 resulted in a partial reversal of tax benefit previously recorded at the higher corporate rate in the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year; year to date, income tax expense decreased by $3,463,000 as a result of adoption of the ASU.

The weighted-average fair value per share of stock options granted during fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, was $14.44 and $11.84, respectively. The fair value of stock options granted was estimated using the following weighted-average assumptions:


	FY 2018	FY 2017
Risk-free interest rate	1.6%	1.2%
Expected dividend yield	0.0%	0.0%
Expected stock price volatility	27.7%	35.2%
Expected option life	4.0 years	4.0 years

The Company has an employee stock purchase plan that provides for employee stock purchases at a 5% discount to market price. The discount is recorded in administrative expense as of the date of purchase.