Nasdaq Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

As of March 31, 2018, 300,000,000 shares of our common stock were authorized, 172,396,708 shares were issued and 166,946,592 shares were outstanding. The holders of common stock are entitled to one vote per share, except that our certificate of incorporation limits the ability of any person to vote in excess of 5.0% of the then-outstanding shares of Nasdaq common stock.

Common Stock in Treasury, at Cost

We account for the purchase of treasury stock under the cost method with the shares of stock repurchased reflected as a reduction to Nasdaq stockholders’ equity and included in common stock in treasury, at cost in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Shares repurchased under our share repurchase program are currently retired and canceled. When treasury shares are reissued, they are recorded at the average cost of the treasury shares acquired. We held 5,452,116 shares of common stock in treasury as of March 31, 2018 and 4,932,402 shares as of December 31, 2017, most of which are related to shares of our common stock repurchased for the settlement of employee tax withholding obligations arising from the vesting of restricted stock.

Share Repurchase Program

In January 2018, our board of directors authorized an additional $500 million for the share repurchase program bringing the total capacity to $726 million.

These purchases may be made from time to time at prevailing market prices in open market purchases, privately-negotiated transactions, block purchase techniques or otherwise, as determined by our management. The purchases are primarily funded from existing cash balances. The share repurchase program may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time. The share repurchase program has no defined expiration date.

The following table summarizes our share repurchase activity:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018		2017

Number of shares of common stock repurchased	1,258,946		2,215,755
Average price paid per share	$	78.75	$	70.64
Total purchase price (in millions)	$	99	$	156

As discussed above in “Common Stock in Treasury, at Cost,” shares repurchased under our share repurchase program are currently retired and cancelled. As of March 31, 2018, the remaining amount authorized for share repurchases under the program was $627 million.

Other Repurchases of Common Stock

During the first three months of 2018, we repurchased 519,714 shares of our common stock in settlement of employee tax withholding obligations arising from the vesting of restricted stock.

Preferred Stock

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 30,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share, issuable from time to time in one or more series. As of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, no shares of preferred stock were issued or outstanding.

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Cash Dividends on Common Stock

During the three months ended March 31, 2018, our board of directors declared the following cash dividends:



Declaration Date	Dividend Per Common Share		Record Date	Total Amount		Payment Date
				(in millions)
January 30, 2018	$	0.38	March 16, 2018	$	63	March 30, 2018
March 26, 2018	0.44		June 15, 2018	73		June 29, 2018
				$	136

The total amount declared of $136 million was recorded in retained earnings in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2018. As of March 31, 2018, the total amount paid was $63 million.

The regular quarterly cash dividend declared in March 2018 of $0.44 per share on our outstanding common stock reflects a 16.0% increase from our prior quarterly cash dividend of $0.38. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to approval by the board of directors. The estimated amount of this dividend is $73 million.

Our board of directors maintains a dividend policy with the intention to provide stockholders with regular and growing dividends over the long term as earnings and cash flow grow.