EQUITY

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

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, 2020, December 31, 2019 and March 31, 2019.

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 cost	2020	2019	2019
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	214	19	0
Total purchase price	$ 26,132	$ 2,602	$ 0
Average cost per share	$ 121.92	$ 139.90	$ 0.00

As of March 31, 2020, 8,064,851 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, except per share data	2020	2019
Total Equity
Balance at beginning of year	$ 5,621,857	$ 5,202,903
Net earnings	60,258	63,299
Common stock issued
Share-based compensation plans, net of shares
withheld for taxes	(15,082)	(14,068)
Purchase and retirement of common stock	(26,132)	0
Share-based compensation expense	6,716	5,724
Cash dividends on common stock
($0.34/$0.31 per share, respectively)	(45,100)	(40,939)
Other comprehensive income	(12,191)	290
Balance at end of period	$ 5,590,326	$ 5,217,209