NOTE 13: EQUITY

Our capital stock consists solely of common stock, par value $1.00 per share. Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote per share. Our Certificate of Incorporation also authorizes 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, of which no shares have been issued. The terms and provisions of such shares will be determined by our Board of Directors upon any issuance of preferred shares in accordance with our Certificate of Incorporation.

There were no shares held in treasury as of December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015.

Our common stock purchases (all of which were open market purchases) and subsequent retirements for the years ended December 31 are summarized below:



in thousands, except average cost	2017	2016	2015
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	510	1,427	228
Total cost 1	$ 60,303	$ 161,463	$ 21,475
Average cost 1	$ 118.18	$ 113.18	$ 94.19


1	Excludes commissions of $0.02 per share.

As of December 31, 2017, 9,489,717 shares may be purchased under the current purchase authorization of our Board of Directors.