Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity

Stockholders’ Equity

Preferred Stock

We may issue up to 5.0 million shares of our preferred stock in one or more series. 0.5 million of these shares are designated as Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock. Our Board of Directors is authorized to fix the rights and terms for any series of preferred stock without additional shareholder approval.

Common Stock

Our Articles of Organization authorize us to issue up to 500 million shares of our common stock. Our Board of Directors has periodically authorized the repurchase of shares of our common stock. We were authorized to repurchase up to $100 million worth of shares with cash from operations for each of our fiscal years 2014 and 2013. Additionally, on August 4, 2014, our Board of Directors authorized us to repurchase up to an additional $600 million of our common stock through September 30, 2017.  We intend to use cash from operations and borrowings under our credit facility to make such repurchases.  We repurchased 2.7 million shares at a cost of $64.9 million in 2015, 5.1 million shares at a cost of $224.9 million in 2014 (including $37.5 million held by the bank pending final settlement of the accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") agreement described below) and 3.1 million shares at a cost of $74.9 million in 2013. All shares of our common stock repurchased are automatically restored to the status of authorized and unissued. Future repurchases of shares will reduce our cash balances.

On August 14, 2014, we entered into an accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) agreement with a major financial institution (“Bank”). The ASR allowed us to buy a large number of shares immediately at a purchase price determined by an average market price over a period of time. Under the ASR, we agreed to purchase $125.0 million of our common stock, in total, with an initial delivery to us in August 2014 of 2.3 million shares. We settled the ASR in December 2014 and the Bank delivered to us 1.1 million additional shares.