Shareholders’ Equity

Dividends

The Company declared and paid cash dividends per share during the periods presented as follows:



	Dividends Per Share		Amount (in millions)
2018:
First quarter	$	0.63	$	3,232

2017:
Fourth quarter	$	0.63	$	3,252
Third quarter	0.63		3,281
Second quarter	0.57		2,988
First quarter	0.57		3,042
Total cash dividends declared and paid	$	2.40	$	12,563

Future dividends are subject to declaration by the Board of Directors.

Share Repurchase Program

In May 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization from $175 billion to $210 billion of the Company’s common stock, of which $176 billion had been utilized as of December 30, 2017. The Company’s share repurchase program does not obligate it to acquire any specific number of shares. Under the program, shares may be repurchased in privately negotiated and/or open market transactions, including under plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).

The Company has entered, and in the future may enter, into accelerated share repurchase arrangements (“ASRs”) with financial institutions. In exchange for up-front payments, the financial institutions deliver shares of the Company’s common stock during the purchase periods of each ASR. The total number of shares ultimately delivered, and therefore the average repurchase price paid per share, is determined at the end of the applicable purchase period of each ASR based on the volume-weighted average price of the Company’s common stock during that period. The shares received are retired in the periods they are delivered, and the up-front payments are accounted for as a reduction to shareholders’ equity in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets in the periods the payments are made. The Company reflects the ASRs as a repurchase of common stock in the period delivered for purposes of calculating earnings per share and as forward contracts indexed to its own common stock. The ASRs met all of the applicable criteria for equity classification, and therefore were not accounted for as derivative instruments.

The following table shows the Company’s ASR activity and related information during the three months ended December 30, 2017 and the year ended September 30, 2017:



	Purchase Period End Date	Number of Shares (in thousands)		Average Repurchase Price Per Share		ASR Amount (in millions)
November 2017 ASR	February 2018	23,602	⁽¹⁾	⁽¹⁾		$	5,000
August 2017 ASR	November 2017	18,887	⁽²⁾	$	158.84	$	3,000
May 2017 ASR	August 2017	20,108		$	149.20	$	3,000
February 2017 ASR	May 2017	20,949		$	143.20	$	3,000
November 2016 ASR	February 2017	51,157		$	117.29	$	6,000
August 2016 ASR	November 2016	26,850		$	111.73	$	3,000

(1)

“Number of Shares” represents those shares delivered at the beginning of the purchase period and does not represent the final number of shares to be delivered under the ASR. The total number of shares ultimately delivered, and therefore the average repurchase price paid per share, will be determined at the end of the purchase period based on the volume-weighted average price of the Company’s common stock during that period. The November 2017 ASR purchase period will end in February 2018.


(2)	Includes 15.1 million shares delivered and retired at the beginning of the purchase period, which began in the fourth quarter of 2017, and 3.8 million shares delivered and retired at the end of the purchase period, which concluded in the first quarter of 2018.

Additionally, the Company repurchased shares of its common stock in the open market, which were retired upon repurchase, during the periods presented as follows:



	Number of Shares (in thousands)	Average Repurchase Price Per Share		Amount (in millions)
2018:
First quarter	30,181	$	169.26	$	5,109

2017:
Fourth quarter	29,073	$	154.78	$	4,500
Third quarter	30,356	$	148.24	4,500
Second quarter	31,070	$	128.74	4,001
First quarter	44,333	$	112.78	5,000
Total open market common stock repurchases	134,832			$	18,001