Share Repurchase Program

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Share Repurchase Program

Share repurchase program

NOTE 10 – SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM

In January of 2011, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program.  Under the program, the Company may, from time to time, repurchase shares of its common stock, solely through open market purchases effected through a broker dealer at prevailing market prices, based on a variety of factors such as price, corporate trading policy requirements and overall market conditions.  The Company’s Board of Directors may increase or otherwise modify, renew, suspend or terminate the share repurchase program at any time, without prior notice.  As announced on February 5, 2020, October 28, 2020, and February 10, 2021, the Company’s Board of Directors each time approved a resolution to increase the authorization amount under the share repurchase program by an additional $1.0 billion, resulting in a cumulative authorization amount of $15.8 billion.  Each additional authorization is effective for a three-year period, beginning on its respective announcement date.  In order to conserve liquidity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company suspended its share repurchase program on March 16, 2020.  The Company continued to evaluate business conditions and its liquidity and, as a result of this evaluation, resumed its share repurchase program on May 29, 2020.

The following table identifies shares of the Company’s common stock that have been repurchased as part of the Company’s publicly announced share repurchase program for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands, except per share data):

	For the Year Ended
	December 31,
	2020		2019
Shares repurchased		4,832		3,877
Average price per share	$	431.93	$	369.55
Total investment	$	2,087,146	$	1,432,752

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $481.5 million remaining under its share repurchase program.  Subsequent to the end of the year and through February 26, 2021, the Company repurchased an additional 1.1 million shares of its common stock under its share repurchase program, at an average price of $447.49, for a total investment of $478.4 million.  The Company has repurchased a total of 82.1 million shares of its common stock under its share repurchase program since the inception of the program in January of 2011 and through February 26, 2021, at an average price of $179.65, for a total aggregate investment of $14.7 billion.