Stockholders’ Equity

Preferred Stock

The Company is authorized to issue up to 5.0 million shares of Preferred Stock. Any such Preferred Stock issued by the Company may rank prior to common stock as to dividend rights, liquidation preference or both, may have full or limited voting rights and may be convertible into shares of common stock.

Common Stock

The Company is authorized to issue up to 150.0 million shares of Voting Common Stock and 3.0 million shares of Class B Non-Voting Common Stock. As more fully described in Note 8, the Company is party to an equity distribution program under which the Company may sell shares of its common stock.

The Company’s Board of Directors authorized share repurchase programs in January 2017 and May 2015, authorizing the Company to repurchase up to 1.9 million and 3.0 million, respectively, shares of its common stock, which do not expire. In 2016, the Company repurchased 0.2 million shares at an average price per share of $161.16.

The following is a summary of the Company’s recent share repurchase activity:



Period	Shares Repurchased	Average Price
2014	1.2	$	204.72
2015	1.7	209.39
2016	0.2	161.16

Financial Instruments

The Company’s junior convertible securities contain an embedded right for holders to receive shares of the Company’s common stock under certain conditions. These arrangements, as well as the equity distribution program, meet the definition of equity and are not required to be accounted for separately as derivative instruments.