EQUITY

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

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 June 30, 2019, December 31, 2018 and June 30, 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:



	June 30	December 31	June 30
in thousands, except average price	2019	2018	2018
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	0	1,192	643
Total purchase price	$ 0	$ 133,983	$ 74,921
Average price per share	$ 0.00	$ 112.41	$ 116.49

As of June 30, 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		Six Months Ended
	June 30		June 30
in thousands, except per share data	2019	2018	2019	2018
Total Equity
Balance at beginning of period	$ 5,217,209	$ 4,913,210	$ 5,202,903	$ 4,968,893
Net earnings	197,558	159,652	260,857	212,631
Common stock issued
Share-based compensation plans, net of shares
withheld for taxes	(11,370)	(7,228)	(25,438)	(31,337)
Purchase and retirement of common stock	0	(17,097)	0	(74,921)
Share-based compensation expense	8,646	7,969	14,370	14,763
Cash dividends on common stock
($0.31/$0.28/$0.62/$0.56 per share, respectively)	(40,988)	(37,020)	(81,927)	(74,196)
Other comprehensive income	392	1,144	682	4,797
Balance at end of period	$ 5,371,447	$ 5,020,630	$ 5,371,447	$ 5,020,630