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
	2024	2023	2022	2024	2023	2022
Balance at the beginning of the year	71,679,658	70,848,810	70,370,812	5,775,295	5,555,027	4,852,709
Employee option exercises	629,541	679,878	301,463	(192,123)	(178,326)	(157,682)
Director option exercises	6,500	—	—	—	—	—
Restricted stock vestings	150,849	150,970	176,535	—	—	—
Common stock repurchases	—	—	—	432,600	398,594	860,000

Balance at the end of the year	72,466,548	71,679,658	70,848,810	6,015,772	5,775,295	5,555,027

The cash dividends paid on the common stock for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 aggregated $114.1 million, $103.7 million and $99.5 million, respectively.