Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

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 authorized us to repurchase up to $1,500 million of our common stock for the October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2020 period. We use cash from operations and borrowings under our credit facility to make such repurchases. All shares of our common stock repurchased are automatically restored to the status of authorized and unissued.

In 2019, we repurchased 1.4 million shares for $115 million. In addition, in 2019 and 2018, we repurchased 3.0 million and 8.2 million shares, respectively, under an accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") agreement. On July 20, 2018, 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 $1 billion of our common stock, in total, with an initial delivery to us in July 2018 of 8.2 million shares (“Initial Shares”), which represented the number of shares at the current market price equal to 80% of the total fixed purchase price of $1 billion. The remainder of the total purchase price of $200 million reflected the value of the stock held by the Bank pending final settlement and, accordingly, was recorded as a reduction to additional paid-in capital in 2018. In addition, we initiated and completed an ASR repurchase of 1.2 million shares for $100 million in the third quarter of 2018. In 2017, we repurchased 0.9 million shares at cost of $51.0 million.

As part of a strategic alliance, in the fourth quarter of 2018, Rockwell Automation made a $1 billion equity investment in PTC, by acquiring 10,582,010 shares at a price of $94.50 per share.