Stock Repurchase Program and Cash Dividend

6 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2018

Stock Repurchase Program and Cash Dividend

Effective December 13, 2017, our Board of Directors terminated our previous share repurchase program and authorized, under a new repurchase program, the repurchase of 20 million shares of our common stock in open market transactions or otherwise for general corporate purposes, including to obtain shares for the Company’s equity award and other employee benefit plans. The Board of Directors did not fix any expiration date for this repurchase program.

The table below provides, for the periods indicated, information about our share repurchase programs:



	Six months ended April 30,				Three months ended April 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Number of shares purchased (in thousands)	6,221		563		1,794		5
Average price per share	$	46.86	$	27.41	$	45.44	$	35.57
Remaining authorization at April 30 (in thousands)	16,876		15,276		16,876		15,276

Approximately 3.1 million shares purchased in the six months ended April 30, 2018 were acquired under the previous share repurchase program.

On February 21, 2017, our Board of Directors approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends to shareholders. During the six months ended April 30, 2018 and 2017, we declared and paid dividends of $0.19 and $0.08 per share, respectively. During the three months ended April 30, 2018 and 2017, we declared and paid dividends of $0.11 and $0.08 per share, respectively.