Capital Stock

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

11. Capital Stock

The Company has 750 million authorized shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share. The number of shares of common stock and treasury stock and the share activity for 2018 and 2017 were as follows:



	Common Shares						Treasury Shares

	2018			2017			2018		2017
Balance at the beginning of the year		151,906,797			153,412,050			27,879,929		24,305,930
Stock plan shares issued		822,878			2,068,746			—		—
Shares surrendered by optionees		(230,550	)		(180,537	)		230,550		180,537
Common stock repurchases		(12,000,144	)		(3,393,462	)		12,000,144		3,393,462
Balance at the end of the year		140,498,981			151,906,797			40,110,623		27,879,929

In December 2018, our Board of Directors increased the quarterly cash dividend by 10% to $0.22 per share of our common stock.

The Company has 60 million authorized shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share. At December 31, 2018, no shares of our preferred stock were outstanding. Our Board of Directors has the authority, without action by the Company’s stockholders, to designate and issue our preferred stock in one or more series and to designate the rights, preferences, limitations and privileges of each series of preferred stock, which may be greater than the rights of the Company’s common stock.

In 2018, we repurchased approximately 12.0 million shares of outstanding common stock under the Company’s share repurchase program at a cost of $694.6 million. As of December 31, 2018, the Company’s total remaining share repurchase authorization under the remaining program was approximately $413.7 million. The share repurchase program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any specific dollar amount or number of shares and may be suspended or discontinued at any time.