Share Repurchases

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Share repurchases

17. Share Repurchases

A summary of share repurchase activity is shown below.

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Shares of common stock repurchased	1,510,124		857,016		8,228,542		4,743,926
Spending on share repurchases (in thousands)	$	100,030	$	75,017	$	600,164	$	392,588
Average price paid per share	$	66.24	$	87.53	$	72.94	$	82.76

In January 2015, the Board of Directors approved a new standing share repurchase authorization, whereby the Company may repurchase up to 15,000,000 shares of its common stock over the following three years. This plan replaced the Company's $1.0 billion share repurchase program, which it completed in 2014. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company repurchased 1,510,124 and 8,228,542 shares of common stock under the January 2015 authorization. As of September 30, 2015, there were 6,771,458 shares available to purchase under this plan.

Treasury shares increased to 101,109,186 at September 30, 2015 from a balance of 92,880,644 at December 31, 2014.