COMMON STOCK

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

COMMON STOCK

11. COMMON STOCK:

Holders of Class A Common Stock are entitled to one vote per share and holders of Class B Common Stock are entitled to ten votes per share, except for votes relating to “going private” and certain other transactions. Substantially all of the Class B Common Stock is held by David D. Smith, Frederick G. Smith, J. Duncan Smith and Robert E. Smith who entered into a stockholders’ agreement pursuant to which they have agreed to vote for each other as candidates for election to our board of directors until December 31, 2025. The Class A Common Stock and the Class B Common Stock vote together as a single class, except as otherwise may be required by Maryland law, on all matters presented for a vote. Holders of Class B Common Stock may at any time convert their shares into the same number of shares of Class A Common Stock. During 2019, 943,002 Class B Common Stock shares were converted into Class A Common Stock shares. During 2018, no Class B Common Stock shares were converted into Class A Common Stock shares. 

Our Bank Credit Agreements and some of our subordinate debt instruments have restrictions on our ability to pay dividends on our common stock unless certain specific conditions are satisfied, including but not limited to:

• no event of default then exists under each indenture or certain other specified agreements relating to our indebtedness; and

• after taking into account the dividends payment, we are within certain restricted payment requirements contained in each indenture.

During 2019 and 2018, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend in the months of February, May, August, and November which were paid in March, June, September, and December, respectively. The quarterly dividend per share was increased from $0.18 to $0.20 in November 2018. Total dividend payments for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $0.80 and $0.74 per share, respectively. In February 2020, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share. Future dividends on our common shares, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on several factors including our results of operations, cash requirements and surplus, financial condition, covenant restrictions, and other factors that the Board of Directors may deem relevant. The Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock holders have the same rights related to dividends.

On August 9, 2018, the Board of Directors approved an additional $1 billion share repurchase authorization, in addition to the previous repurchase authorization of $150 million. There is no expiration date and currently, management has no plans to terminate this program. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we repurchased approximately 5 million shares of Class A Common Stock for $145 million. As of December 31, 2019, the total remaining repurchase authorization was $723 million.