EQUITY

9 Months Ended

Sep. 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 September 30, 2019, December 31, 2018 and September 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:



	September 30	December 31	September 30
in thousands, except average price	2019	2018	2018
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	19	1,192	866
Total purchase price	$ 2,602	$ 133,983	$ 99,916
Average price per share	$ 139.90	$ 112.41	$ 115.31

As of September 30, 2019, 8,279,189 shares may be purchased under the current authorization of our Board of Directors.

Changes in total equity are summarized below:



	Three Months Ended		Nine Months Ended
	September 30		September 30
in thousands, except per share data	2019	2018	2019	2018
Total Equity
Balance at beginning of period	$ 5,371,447	$ 5,020,630	$ 5,202,903	$ 4,968,893
Net earnings	215,713	179,151	476,569	391,783
Common stock issued
Share-based compensation plans, net of shares
withheld for taxes	(12,091)	(32)	(37,528)	(31,370)
Purchase and retirement of common stock	(2,602)	(24,995)	(2,602)	(99,916)
Share-based compensation expense	10,445	6,887	24,815	21,650
Cash dividends on common stock
($0.31/$0.28/$0.93/$0.84 per share, respectively)	(41,016)	(36,996)	(122,943)	(111,192)
Other comprehensive income	343	1,144	1,025	5,941
Balance at end of period	$ 5,542,239	$ 5,145,789	$ 5,542,239	$ 5,145,789