SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

11. SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Authorized common stock, par value $1.00 per share, was 800 million shares at December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Treasury stock is stated at cost. Dividends declared per share of common stock were $1.95 for 2021, $1.89 for 2020 and $1.85 for 2019.

The Company has 15 million shares, without par value, of authorized but unissued and undesignated preferred stock.

Share Repurchase Authorization

In February 2015, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 20 million additional shares of its common stock, including shares to be repurchased under Rule 10b5-1. As of December 31, 2021, 5,850,187 shares remained to be repurchased under the Company’s repurchase authorization. The Company intends to repurchase all shares under its authorization, for which no expiration date has been established, in open market or privately negotiated transactions, subject to market conditions.

Share Repurchases

During 2021, 2020 and 2019, the Company reacquired 502,132, 761,245 and 1,986,241 shares, respectively, of its common stock, of which 389,759, 565,064 and 1,846,384, respectively, related to share repurchases through open market or private purchases, and 112,373, 196,181 and 139,857, respectively, related to shares withheld for taxes on exercise of stock options and vesting of stock awards and units.

Separation of ChampionX

On June 3, 2020, the Company effected the split-off of ChampionX through the Exchange Offer and all shares of ChampionX common stock owned by Ecolab were exchanged for outstanding shares of Ecolab common stock. In the Exchange Offer, which was oversubscribed, the Company accepted 4,955,552 shares of Ecolab common stock in exchange for approximately 122,200,000 shares of ChampionX common stock.