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Common stock | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Class of Stock Disclosures [Abstract] |
Common Stock | Common Stock For the years 2017, 2016 and 2015, dividends declared on common stock were $.7750, $.7550 and $.7350 per common share, respectively. The Stock Purchase Plan provided interested investors the opportunity to make optional cash investments and to reinvest all or a percentage of their cash dividends in shares of the Company's common stock. The K-Plan provides participants the option to invest in the Company's common stock. From January 2015 through August 2015, the Stock Purchase Plan and K-Plan, with respect to Company stock, purchased shares of authorized but unissued common stock from the Company. From September 2015 through December 2017, the K-Plan purchased shares of common stock on the open market. At December 31, 2017, there were 7.8 million shares of common stock reserved for original issuance under the K-Plan. From September 2015 through December 4, 2016, the Stock Purchase Plan purchased shares of common stock on the open market. On December 5, 2016, the Stock Purchase Plan was terminated and all remaining shares reserved for original issuance under the plan were de-registered. The Company depends on earnings from its divisions and dividends from its subsidiaries to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration and payment of dividends is at the sole discretion of the board of directors, subject to limitations imposed by the Company's credit agreements, federal and state laws, and applicable regulatory limitations. In addition, the Company and Centennial are generally restricted to paying dividends out of capital accounts or net assets. The following discusses the most restrictive limitations. Pursuant to a covenant under a credit agreement, Centennial may only declare or pay distributions if as of the last day of any fiscal quarter, the ratio of Centennial's average consolidated indebtedness as of the last day of such fiscal quarter and each of the preceding three fiscal quarters to Centennial's Consolidated EBITDA does not exceed 3 to 1; and after giving effect to such distribution, all distributions made during the 12-month period ending on the last day of the fiscal quarter in which such distribution is made will not exceed the remainder of Centennial's Consolidated EBITDA minus Centennial's capital expenditures less the net cash proceeds from all sales of capital assets from continuing operations, for the immediately preceding 12-month period. Intermountain has regulatory limitations on the amount of dividends it can pay. Based on these limitations, approximately $1.3 billion of the net assets of the Company's subsidiaries were restricted from being used to transfer funds to the Company at December 31, 2017. In addition, the Company's credit agreement also contains restrictions on dividend payments. The most restrictive limitation requires the Company not to permit the ratio of funded debt to capitalization (determined with respect to the Company alone, excluding its subsidiaries) to be greater than 65 percent. Based on this limitation, approximately $384 million of the Company's (excluding its subsidiaries) net assets, which represents common stockholders' equity including retained earnings, would be restricted from use for dividend payments at December 31, 2017. In addition, state regulatory commissions may require the Company to maintain certain capitalization ratios. These requirements are not expected to affect the Company's ability to pay dividends in the near term.

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