Capital Stock

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

The Company has the authority to issue an aggregate of 750 million shares of common stock having a par value of $0.01 per share. The stockholders of Xylem common stock are entitled to receive dividends as declared by the Xylem Board of Directors. Dividends declared were $0.96, $0.84 and $0.72 during 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The changes in shares of common stock outstanding for the three years ended December 31 are as follows:



(share units in thousands)	2019		2018		2017
Beginning Balance, January 1	179,724		179,862		179,367
Stock incentive plan net activity	952		672		985
Repurchase of common stock	(536	)	(810	)	(490	)
Ending Balance, December 31	180,140		179,724		179,862

For the years ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 the Company repurchased 0.5 million shares of common stock for $40 million and repurchased 0.8 million shares of common stock for $59 million, respectively. Repurchases include both share repurchase programs approved by the Board of Directors and repurchases in relation to settlement of employee income tax withholding obligations due as a result of the vesting of restricted stock units. The detail of repurchases by each program are as follows:

On August 24, 2015, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $500 million in shares with no expiration date. The program's objective is to deploy our capital in a manner that benefits our shareholders and maintains our focus on growth. For the year ended December 31, 2019 we repurchased 0.3 million shares for $25 million. For the year ended December 31, 2018 we repurchased 0.7 million shares for $50 million. There are up to $338 million in shares that may still be purchased under this plan as of December 31, 2019.

On August 18, 2012, the Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 2.0 million shares of common stock with no expiration date. The program's objective is to offset dilution associated with various Xylem employee stock plans by acquiring shares in the open market from time to time. For the year ended December 31, 2017 we repurchased 0.3 million shares for $13 million. As of June 2017, we have exhausted the authorized amount to repurchase shares under this plan.

Aside from the aforementioned repurchase programs, we repurchased 0.2 million and 0.1 million shares for $15 million and $9 million during 2019 and 2018, respectively, in relation to settlement of employee income tax withholding obligations due as a result of the vesting of restricted stock units. These repurchases are included in the stock incentive plan net activity in the above table.