EQUITY

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 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 of preferred shares in accordance with our Certificate of Incorporation.

There were no shares held in treasury as of September 30, 2020, December 31, 2019 and September 30, 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:



	September 30	December 31	September 30
in thousands, except average cost	2020	2019	2019
Shares Purchased and Retired
Number	214	19	19
Total purchase price	$ 26,132	$ 2,602	$ 2,602
Average cost per share	$ 121.92	$ 139.90	$ 139.90

As of September 30, 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		Nine Months Ended
	September 30		September 30
in thousands, except per share data	2020	2019	2020	2019
Total Equity
Balance at beginning of period	$ 5,764,151	$ 5,371,447	$ 5,621,857	$ 5,202,903
Net earnings	199,788	215,713	469,962	476,569
Common stock issued
Share-based compensation plans, net of shares
withheld for taxes	(617)	(12,091)	(17,157)	(37,528)
Purchase and retirement of common stock	0	(2,602)	(26,132)	(2,602)
Share-based compensation expense	8,019	10,445	23,239	24,815
Cash dividends on common stock
($0.34/$0.31/$1.02/$0.93 per share, respectively)	(45,034)	(41,016)	(135,161)	(122,943)
Other comprehensive income (expense)	2,045	343	(8,256)	1,025
Balance at end of period	$ 5,928,352	$ 5,542,239	$ 5,928,352	$ 5,542,239