Note 12: Equity

Our capital stock consists solely of common stock, par value $1.00 per share, of which 480,000,000 shares may be issued. Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote per share. We may also issue 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, but no shares have been issued. The terms and provisions of such shares will be determined by our Board of Directors upon any issuance in accordance with our Certificate of Incorporation.

There were no shares held in treasury as of March 31, 2019, December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2018.

Our common stock purchases (all of which were open market purchases) and subsequent retirements for the year-to-date periods ended are as follows:



	March 31	December 31	March 31
in thousands, except average price	2019	2018	2018 1
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	0	1,192	492
Total purchase price	$ 0	$ 133,983	$ 57,824
Average price per share	$ 0.00	$ 112.41	$ 117.47


1	Settlement of 20 thousand shares at a total price of $2,250 thousand occurred after March 31, 2018.

As of March 31, 2019, 8,297,789 shares may be purchased under the current authorization of our Board of Directors.

Changes in total equity are summarized below:


"
	Three Months Ended
	March 31
in thousands	2019	2018
Total Equity
Balance at beginning of year	$ 5,202,903	$ 4,968,893
Net earnings	63,299	52,979
Common stock issued
Share-based compensation plans, net of shares
withheld for taxes	(14,068)	(24,109)
Purchase and retirement of common stock	0	(57,824)
Share-based compensation expense	5,724	6,794
Cash dividends on common stock
($0.31/$0.28 per share, respectively)	(40,939)	(37,176)
Other comprehensive income	290	3,653
Balance at end of period	$ 5,217,209	$ 4,913,210