Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

18. Stockholders' Equity

The Company has the authority to issue up to 100,000 shares of $100 par preferred stock and up to 500,000,000 shares of $1.00 par common stock. There were no issuances of preferred stock. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company issued 256,537,535 and 256,112,943 shares of common stock and had 101,109,186 treasury shares, held at cost, respectively.

Share Repurchases

In January 2015, the Board of Directors approved a new standing share repurchase authorization, whereby the Company may repurchase up to 15,000,000 shares of its common stock over the following three years. This plan replaced all previously authorized repurchase programs. The Company did not purchase any shares under this program in 2016. During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company purchased 8,228,542 shares of its common stock under this authorization at a total cost of $600,164, or $72.94 per share. As of December 31, 2016, the number of shares still available for repurchase under the January 2015 share repurchase authorization was 6,771,458.

In November 2012, the Board of Directors approved a $1.0 billion share repurchase program authorizing repurchases of the Company's common shares over the following 12 to 18 months. In 2014, the Company completed this share repurchase program through an accelerated share repurchase transaction, whereby Dover paid $292,565 on March 10, 2014 to receive a variable number of shares on incremental dates through March 31, 2014. The Company repurchased 3,596,980 shares under this transaction for an average share price of $81.06.

In May 2012, the Board of Directors renewed its standing authorization of the Company's share repurchase program, on terms consistent with its prior five-year authorization which expired at that time. This renewal authorized the repurchase of up to 10,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock during the five-year period ending May 2017. The Company repurchased 3,870,248 shares under this authorization during 2014 at a total cost of $308,512, or $79.71 per share.