STOCK

12 Months Ended

Feb. 01, 2020

STOCK

STOCK

14. STOCK

Preferred Shares

The Company has authorized five million shares of voting cumulative preferred shares; two million shares were available for issuance at February 1, 2020. The shares have a par value of $100 per share and are issuable in series.

Common Shares

The Company has authorized two billion common shares, $1 par value per share.

Common Stock Repurchase Program

The Company maintains stock repurchase programs that comply with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for the orderly repurchase of The Kroger Co. common shares, from time to time.  The Company made open market purchases totaling $400, $727 and $1,567 under these repurchase programs in 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. 

On April 20, 2018 the Company entered and funded a $1,200 accelerated stock repurchase (“ASR”) program to reacquire shares in privately negotiated transactions. The final delivery under the ASR program occurred during the second quarter of 2018, which included the settlement of the remaining 2.3 million Kroger Common shares. In total, the Company invested $1,200 to repurchase 46.3 million Kroger common shares at an average price of $25.91 per share.

In addition to these repurchase programs, in December 1999, the Company began a program to repurchase common shares to reduce dilution resulting from its employee stock option plans.  This program is solely funded by proceeds from stock option exercises and the related tax benefit.  The Company repurchased approximately $65, $83 and $66 under the stock option program during 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.