11. Capital Stock

The Company has 750 million authorized shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share. The number of shares of common stock and treasury stock and the share activity for 2017 and 2016 were as follows:



	Common Shares						Treasury Shares

	2017			2016			2017		2016
Balance at the beginning of the year		153,412,050			159,906,032			24,305,930		15,293,877
Stock plan shares issued		2,068,746			2,518,071			—		—
Shares surrendered by optionees		(180,537	)		(204,538	)		180,537		204,538
Common stock repurchases		(3,393,462	)		(8,807,515	)		3,393,462		8,807,515
Balance at the end of the year		151,906,797			153,412,050			27,879,929		24,305,930

In December 2017, our Board of Directors increased the quarterly cash dividend by 11% to $0.20 per share of our common stock.

The Company has 60 million authorized shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share. At December 31, 2017, no shares of our preferred stock were outstanding. Our Board of Directors has the authority, without action by the Company’s stockholders, to designate and issue our preferred stock in one or more series and to designate the rights, preferences, limitations and privileges of each series of preferred stock, which may be greater than the rights of the Company’s common stock.

In 2017, we repurchased approximately 3.4 million shares of outstanding common stock under the Company’s share repurchase program at a cost of $214.8 million. As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s total remaining share repurchase authorization under the remaining program was approximately $558.4 million. The share repurchase program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any specific dollar amount or number of shares and may be suspended or discontinued at any time.